This Slumbering World
by Lord of Forgetfulness
Summary: The Earth of the 22nd century was... unkind. To escape from harsh, crushing reality, many sought solace in the form of virtual worlds - to aimlessly drift, if for a moment, on an almost unfathomably huge dreamland, where worries and truths no longer weighted as much. Until one particular day, when harsh reality and blissful dreams intertwined.
1. Chapter 1

**Got this running laps in my head. At least now it won't be as annoying. If anyone's wondering, got the next arc of Advent to about 3/4ths, and probably going to realease it whole and not in parts. I have to edit that one... thoroughly.**

**Meanwhile, this. **

**Enjoy. Whatever this is.**

**Update 5/10: First scene is betaed and isn't as crappy anymore, thanks to our good, grumpy akubra-wearing wombat's efforts. The rest of the chapter is... rough. From Ch3 onwards it's always betaed and the writing isn't as bad. **

* * *

It was near the end of a normal day at work, before his shift ended, that he heard. His supervisor dismissed him, letting him go home without having to do any of the normal overtime.

His supervisor had received word of it hours beforehand, but had decided to withhold the information until only fifteen minutes were left of his shift. That he had done so at all was surprising.

He supposed those were the small blessings of a moderately important administrative job nowadays.

Closing the message tab from his interface, he quickly gathered his things. On his way out, he exchanged a few curt pleasantries with some co-workers (and his supervisor, who only spared him a pitying glance).

Numbly, he went towards his small, grey, somewhat dusty and normally cramped apartment that suddenly felt oh so empty.

Monotonously and mechanically, he left his possessions in their corresponding places, but his eyes – his mind – weren't really much in reality.

He slumped in one of the chairs on the small combined dining, kitchen, and living room. His unfocused eyes gazed through the window into the small patch of dark, silvery skies, as he rested his head on his right hand.

He chuckled with a grimace.

So common, He thought, as he minutely shook his head, and his eyes travelled from the window to the wall in front of him.

There was no decoration on it, nor anywhere in the apartment – although that was to be expected. Not many people could afford such frivolous things, without their livelihood being in danger of starvation.

I should have expected it happening, sooner or later.

But he actually sort of already had. Only that it was always him who dropped first. Except, it seemed, in reality.

He opened the message again, reading its contents once more, before his gaze turned vacant again.

Yume died today. The traditional Japanese overwork, he should have seen it coming. But the last few months had been even busier for him than ever before, so in his half-conscious state when he was home, he hadn't noticed the extreme exhaustion his now deceased wife must have been through… not that he could have prevented anything, anyway.

Now, being single again meant that he was no longer eligible for parenthood programmes, and the kids had already been taken away, and sent to new parents. So there was no more meagre income from the subsidy given by the state.

Given that he no longer had Yume's income in addition to his, it wasn't as if he could maintain the brats, subsidy or not. It may sound heartless, but the truth was that the world was harsh on everybody.

Yes, both of them had seen the kids as more or less an extra paycheck (if even more underwhelming than payments from normal jobs), but it wasn't like either of them went out of their way to make the kids' lives harder. Not like they had the energy to do so, in any case.

But now that they're gone… well, he wasn't sure what to do.

Except continuing going to work everyday, and now he had to be even more cautious with his expenditures.

He took a moment to roll numbers through his head. Considering his income, it would be best that there were no more food, only gel, at least for the time being.

Now that he no longer had the excuse of a family, it would be more likely that his overtime shifts were extended even further. He couldn't do much except sigh, and wish that his wife was still alive.

They may not have loved each other – or maybe they had. It's a difficult thing to tell when both of them had been exhausted every hour of every single day, but at least they were friends, and their marriage was more of a pact to make each other's lives easier. Not to say that their relationship didn't have its rough spots, but it may have been better than most couples out there. Well, at least compared with his friend Subaru's experiences.

Making a wet chuckle, he remembered how the two of them discussed things back then, when the world didn't seem so dim. He wondered how he was doing. He hadn't been able to keep in contact with him or their (mostly Subaru's actually) online friends they made in a VR game.

He checked his personal mail, there were a decent number of pending messages to read. After reading a few of them, he decided to get in touch with Subaru again, interested in finding out what the madman has gotten into in the past few months. Hajime knows someone to talk to would be great right about now.

Sending message…

He didn't know why such a thing was even necessary; he knows that sending messages nowadays is instantaneous. He works for one of those companies.

Well, beyond having to suffer through advertisement, that is.

Error, could not establish connection.

What...? How?

The solicited ID is no longer available due to being terminated.

Hajime stared at the message for a full minute, incomprehension plastered on his face. Then, a sobering, horrifying realization kicked in.

Checking in the governmental registry – which took a fair bit of time, he found out that Subaru had been dead for almost a year now.

What a way to find out your long-time friend was dead, huh.

He suddenly felt very alone.

Absentmindedly, he closed the interface again, his thoughts drifting away.

Without noticing, he found himself holding a holo-portrait from his school days, with Subaru, Yume, him, and a few others. The piece was fairly old and barely compatible with more modern technology, but it was enough.

He didn't know how long he had been there, staring stupidly at memories of times long past.

He realized that he might actually have felt something towards his wife, after all.

Isn't that even more painful?

A warm kind of painful. Warmth that froze in his veins almost instantly.

Alone. And what now?

He didn't know.

There were a few more hours left before it was necessary to go to sleep. He had to work the next day.

He wondered how the guild Subaru had invited him into was doing. They were an odd bunch, but highly amusing nonetheless. He could use some distraction. He doesn't remember when was the last time he logged in, but it couldn't have been that long ago…

Getting into his neural nano-interface chair was always uncomfortable. Stuffing a jack into his spine is something he would never really get used to, no matter how many times he did.

Before he could open the game, he noticed a few messages left- wasn't this Momonga the Guildmaster? Well, at least Hajime knows that there is someone left in the guild, at least. He didn't know the player all that well, besides that he liked to roleplay as an undead lich. Nor did he really know the other "core members" of the guild, for that matter. But they were amicable enough, if a little overzealous and overbearing with their roleplaying sometimes. That paladin one and the demon obsessed with anything evil especially come to mind.

Last session: Over Two Years ago.

No, that couldn't be... he couldn't have been swamped with working overtime for that long, surely?

Or had he? Now that he thought about it, he didn't quite remember when the last time he logged in was, nor what was he doing during his last session. He wasn't sure, but it might have been a quest he was doing with Subaru and a few of the other guild members… no, wait, that memory was when they were doing the [Don't lose your Head] questline. That was an absolute nightmare, and one of the few he could remember clearly without much problem.

Skimming through his inbox once more before diving into the game, he couldn't help but wonder what the guildmaster meant by the last day of the game. Was it literal, or did he mean that Momonga was quitting? He couldn't really see the lich saying he was quitting, from the few interactions with him they'd shared, Momonga appeared to give much more importance to the game than real life. Something that Hajime… couldn't really fault all that much.

The question concerning the last day of the game was quickly answered, as a message from the developers was the first thing he saw as he opened the game. After more than a decade, YGGDRASIL's servers would be shut off the very same day at midnight.

So, after this day, he wouldn't even have a place to distract himself from the real world. Just peachy. Ignoring the train of thought before it went any further, he closed the notification, and dove into a world where he could wander freely. For the day at least, his problems would be forgotten.

The dark grey ambience and silvery skies of the real world disappeared, like they were just a bad dream, and morphed instead into the verdant and dare he say lively – inasmuch a virtual world could – scenery of Alfheim. He found himself just outside a cave, in a relatively secluded part of the map.

He couldn't remember why he had left his character there. Hey, maybe he had been drunk, while dicking around alongside Subaru doing who knows what. Such scenarios had happened multiple times.

Apparently.

There were a few times that the others in the guild were witnesses.

He never lived it down.

Chuckling at the memories, he tried to adjust to his avatar. His character was strange, and took a bit of getting used to. The extra two pairs of arms in particular could be… difficult to handle.

Well, at least he was still bipedal. He didn't know how players of some of other heteromorphic races got around that, like the pink-ish slime in the guild who was played by a voice actress of certain... games.

He didn't know why he remembered that last part, but he wished he hadn't.

Checking the global countdown, he saw that there was still a few hours left until the server shutdown. He might as well explore a bit.

Now, where was the option to summon one's tamed beasts? He knew it was somewhere in that convoluted mess of an UI…

* * *

After a few more hours of wandering about, killing mobs and running from bosses and PKers – because even when the game was ending there were assholes like those, waiting for some fool to fall into their ambushes – he decided that it was time to travel to Helheim and visit the Guild Base for the last time.

Not even a minute since he entered the Underworld, he was already being contacted by the Guildmaster via [Message]. Yep, Momonga-san hadn't changed at all; he probably had been waiting within the Tomb with his friends list open the whole time. Checking in his own friends list, he noticed that there were a few of the guild members logged in, although nowhere near as the forty-one they once had been.

[Hello, Yami Yumi Yomi-san! I'm glad that you could come for the last day. We are on the meeting room in the Ninth Floor, where are you?] Came the guildmaster's voice through the [Message], his tone clearly restrained as if holding himself from saying something, or sounding too happy. If it was the latter, then he clearly failed.

Or maybe Hajime was reading too much into it.

[Hello to you too, Momonga-san. I just teleported to Helheim, so I'm a few minutes away. It would certainly be faster if I knew where I left Hebime though, since I also don't currently have any items to let me use [Fly], I have to go on foot.]

[Hm? Ah, you mean your mount, Drakaina Kiyohime? Still on the Sixth Floor, last time I checked.] Hajime grimaced at the "official" name of his tamed beast. Okay, he didn't have much room to argue given his own avatar name, but still… No, he maintained that Hebime was a better name than that cringefest forced unto one of his two prizes for completing the nightmare questline, by no others than his own dear guildmates.

Well, there had been even worse names thrown about, so, he was thankful for small mercies. Huh, he got sidetracked. [Yes, tha- wait, how do you know from the top of your head?] he said before he thought better of it. [You know what, nevermind, don't tell me.]

Momonga chuckled briefly before speaking up again [Wait! I'll go there and use [Mass Fly] so you get here faster.]

[Nah, don't bother, Momonga-san, it's fine.]

* * *

The Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick is a marvel like few others, a true testament to the artistic skills of a bunch of overenthusiastic weirdos. Each level – besides the first three, those were quite monotonous overall – were unique in their design by virtue of their creators and their unique… ah, interests.

He had just passed through the First Guardian's quarters, by pure curiosity.

Curiosity killed the cat, indeed.

The Tomb was home to so many sights that left the mind in a state of confusion, with questions in the lines of "Why?" or "What were they thinking?" being amongst the most prevalent ones in his head.

Having quite enough of exploring and not daring to discover other colourful vistas left behind by his guildmates, he activated his [Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown] to immediately travel to the Ninth Floor, and started his way towards the Meeting Room, passing through stupidly decorated hallways and encountering a few NPC maids left behind by… that one mangaka with the extreme fixation with maids. He wasn't sure, but there might have been others who helped in creating them.

The great double doors that led towards the Meeting Room opened for him to enter as it resized him accordingly for the dimensions of the room, and the view of four of his guildmates greeted him.

"Hey guys, been a long time, eh?"

The others greeted him along the same lines.

"Hello, Yami Yumi Yomi-san. Thank you for coming, even if you must be very busy." Momonga greeted him with an emoticon. "Do you know if Chubbotsu-san is going to be able to come? You two were friends before joining the guild if I remember correctly."

Yami briefly considered telling that Chubbotsu – who was Subaru – was dead, but quickly decided against it. Instead, he shook the movable head of his character and said, "No, he is a bit… busy, and he won't be able to log in. He sends regards though." It was a lie, but it was better than to say the truth in that moment.

Momonga still seemed down for it, even if he clearly didn't want to admit it out loud. "I see. A shame, but I understand that people have other things to worry over." Was that bitterness in the lich's voice? Yami decided against opening that can of worms.

What followed was a lengthy conversation between five guildmates of once one of the most infamous and powerful guilds in the game, reminiscing on the good old times. Overall a happy, if a little sad, distraction. And a welcome one.

-linebreak-

The last one to log out was a very tired Herohero, other than Momonga and Yami himself. After the Black Ooze left, they were in a few seconds of silence, before Momonga spoke up again.

"You know Yami-san, I know that you must be busy and tired, if you need to log out, it's okay."

Yami sighed. "I'd rather not." The almost-cheery tone he had been using throughout the meeting was completely gone now.

This seemed to unnerve the skeleton, and for a moment there was silence again.

"Are you alright, Yami-san? I don't mean to intrude in personal matters, but if it helps, I'm all ears." Momonga said while lifting a hand from the table.

Yami considered the offer, but decided against it. "No, Momonga-san, nothing for you to worry about." He waved one of his three right hands as he said so, before chuckling lightly. "You know, I'm sorry that I didn't log in in the past two or so years. I was sure it hadn't been that long, but it seems working distorted my sense of time a bit."

"Ah, ah," Momonga dismissed the apology, "I understand, don't worry about it. Life is harsh for everyone."

Yami could do nothing more than nod. "Indeed it is." He said in a whisper.

Looking at the countdown, there were still a handful of minutes left until the servers were down for good. "You know Momonga-san, I'd rather be looking around like a tourist than sitting awkwardly here the two of us. Want to stroll around?"

The skeleton-player stood still for a moment before shrugging, "Sure, why not." And he stood up. "Did you have anywhere in mind?"

Yami was already walking towards the door, "Eh, maybe the Sixth Floor? That was where the Sanctuary was right? It's the best place in the Tomb in my opinion."

"Ah, no, Yami-san, the Sanctuary is in the Eighth Floor. But sure, if you want to go…"

Yami turned around as he noticed that the Guildmaster wasn't following him yet, only to see Momonga staring at the staff that was stuck in the wall. "Take it."

Momonga snapped his bony head towards him. Before the magic caster could protest against the idea, Yami quickly continued, "I didn't get chewed for staying online too much to grind for the materials to craft it only for you to never use it. Besides, I'm sure the others would understand."

That seemed to be enough for the Guildmaster to reach for the Guild Weapon.

They idly chatted as they walked through the hallways – Yami barely fitting within the walls given his over five metre height – remembering some more memories of the guild – particularly Momonga's, Yami giving some input here and there, while a group of maids followed them because why not. Or that was the explanation Momonga gave him.

And so the clock reached midnight.

* * *

**Heya, would you look at that. I'm not dead. Or completely dead. I literally just had an exam (I actually started writing this a few hours before the exam, because my brain hates me) and... eh.**

**This was formed by writing a dumb idea while listening to doom metal. So that's why tends to go to a gloomy side, take it as you will. Still, this I don't think I've seen this kind of approach to this trope, normally the OC is "teh best of buds" with Momonga from the get-go, and know everything within the tomb just as well as he. And/or they are extremely overpowered, even for YGGDRASIL standards, in one way or another. **

**So I present you, a character who is absolute garbage at PVP, but doesn't care because he never took the game seriously in the first place. **

**Or a general idea of one. If anyone wants to write this character, let me know. Although I seriously doubt so.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

** A/N: This is one of the few stories I have a clear ending in mind. It probably won't be as long as Advent - probably not even as long as the first arc even - and yes, it _is _a tragedy. If I were to give my estimation, this fic shouldn't be longer than 20k, but I know my estimations suck big time. **

* * *

**"Whoa…" **

Momonga and Yami were passing the last minutes of the game chatting about no particular topic, when suddenly Yami's centre of mass was shot to hell, making him miss his footsteps which essentially made him trip on thin air.

"Oh, Yami-san! What happened?" he heard a smooth, baritone voice said, one he didn't recognize.

Turning around, Yami wondered when did he get drunk, as he was seeing everything, including the guildmaster, in triple images. A few seconds passed until his brain caught up with reality and he finally noticed that he could feel perfectly the ground he was resting his left hand… hands on.

Now the concept of feeling one's character's extra appendages took a whole other meaning. Wait, wasn't that _literally_ illegal?

**"Momonga-san? I, eh, I think I'm a little tipsy or something, because I see three of you." **He said as he heard two other voices say the same thing at the same time, to which he froze, stupefied. **"What was that?" **Again the chorus of noble-ish if rather raspy voices said in perfect synchrony with his own… which, now that he paid attention, didn't even hear. And damn the triple vision was starting to make his brain hurt.

The skeleton sorcerer was still for a moment, not replying or doing anything except staring at him with, if Yami were to guess, bafflement.

Finally, the Guildmaster spoke again, "You… your face-faces moved when you talked just then." And the mysterious deep voice could finally be attributed to someone… which was Momonga himself, the only problem was that it was so different from his normal voice that it came off as a bit jarring.

Before any of the two could continue, one of the NPC maids stepped forward, although her steps were hesitant. "Momonga-sama, is Yami Yumi Yomi-sama alright? Should we help him to his suite?" She asked in a timid tone.

The skeleton in question looked at the maid, then at Yami, and again at the maid, in what must have been perplexity (or downright bafflement, again.). Yami could understand, he was just as mystified by this occurrence.

Yami's mind started to run at thousands of miles a second, trying to figure out _what the fuck was going on_.

Then the maid looked at him in the eyes and instantly turned into stone.

Momonga automatically moved to position himself between Yami and the rest of the entourage of maids, without so much of a thought. The purple curtain of a giant robe he wore completely separated the servants visually from the confused Titan.

"Yami-san, your eyes," the sorcerer said, "The six of them are glowing. Maybe it is a passive skill?"

Huh. Yes, now that he mentioned it, one racial class in particular granted him a version of [Gorgonic Gaze] that would cause petrification, but the problem was that there wasn't the smallest clue of where his GUI went, and without it, it was kind of difficult to turn it off.

The next several seconds passed with him awkwardly waving his upper right arm randomly trying to bring the menus up, and Momonga doing about as well in his own attempts. Then, something in his head clicked and he _knew _the [Gorgonic Gaze] was turned off, just at the same time Momonga pulled a bottle from a small black portal and emptied its contents on the poor maid that was turned into stone.

It must have been a De-petrifying Elixir or the like, because the next second, she was made of flesh again, and was visibly shaken, then immediately bowed in ninety degrees. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have intervened!" There were a few voices in the back that quietly agreed with her in that statement. In fact, after Momonga moved away, some of the other servants looked like they were ready to maul her.

Yami held up a hand to defuse the situation, while using three others to cover his eyes (and wasn't that strange), "No, it's fine; you just surprised me, that's all. I'm sorry for that." This didn't seem to completely calm them down – in fact they all, including the maid that had been petrified, appeared to be horrified that he apologized at all.

He didn't pay much more mind at the inexplicably _alive_ NPCs, in favour of maintaining a silent conversation with Momonga… or so he hoped.

Momonga, in turn, regarded him for a moment before turning towards the group of servants. "Thank you for your company. You all may go back to your normal duties. Except you, Sebas" He said to the group, and soon enough only an old-looking butler remained as the rest slowly walked away.

The one named Sebas kept his posture perfectly, almost uncannily so. It also served to remind Yami that the butler, like the rest of the NPCs in the great majority, wasn't human.

"My lord." Was the only thing Sebas said while keeping his bow, as if awaiting Momonga's command.

"I need to know the situation we are in," Momonga started, his tone calm but a sense of urgency underlined his every word. "I need you to survey the perimeter around the Tomb. Gather the Pleiades to do so, you have the authority to decide how to do so, but… don't engage any hostile." He commanded, and the butler responded with a curt "Hai". "If anyone needs me, I will be with Yami-san on my office, we have great many things to discuss. Now go."

Sebas saluted once more and got to his task.

By this moment, Yami had regained his stability somewhat, and was able to stand again. He maintained his two upper hands covering the eyes of his two outermost heads, so the sensory overload wasn't as strong anymore and his brain stopped killing him.

**"You know,"** The Titan said in an attempt to lighten the mood, **"I didn't _knew_ you had an office here."** His triple voice was still unsettling though.

The skeleton, despite himself, did chuckle a bit at that.

* * *

Yami reclined in a chair on Momonga's office, one that had enlarged for him to sit there perfectly in his full size without problem. It felt real, looked real, hell, it even _smelled _real, but a chair changing sizes nilly-willy with no problem is nothing if not unsettling. Well, there was also the fact that there were only two armrests and resting your arms on top of your extra arms wasn't all that comfortable either.

This whole thing just rubbed him the wrong way. At least now with his other heads blindfolded he could look around without having to have two hands up constantly. Not the best long-term solution, but works well enough in the short term.

**"So,"** Yami drawled while trying to put his thoughts in order. **"The countdown reached zero, but instead of being forcefully logged out, we… find ourselves living in a real Nazarick, within real manifestations** **of our avatars' bodies. What the heck."**

Momonga nodded from where he sat behind his pristine wooden desk, his elbows resting on the table as he had his fingers crisscrossed. "Yes. I do believe this concept is a rather sizable genre of anime and manga, if I remember Peroroncino's rants correctly. Honestly Yami-san, how couldn't you remember such a thing with people like him or Whitebrim on the guild?"

**"Every time they started talking about something _too_ enthusiastically I automatically turned them off, for the sake of my sanity. Also, wasn't Whitebrim interested on things only concerning maids? Where does that fit in?" **Because when the people in the guild got too excited about something, well, they were quite something, indeed.

The skeleton raised a finger to dispute Yami's first point, "You," but flexed it back after a second. "might have a point, I admit. About Whitebrim, I think he mentioned once that he was working on an isekai maid café, or something, can't really remember the name."

**"Of course he did." **The Titan muttered, not really all that surprised now that he heard the basic premise.

After a pregnant pause, Momonga decided to continue with conjectures and wild guesses, some sounding almost sane and others not so much.

"If we two are here, then there is the possibility that others may be out there… or may get here like we just did, in the future…" And wasn't it painful to hear, that hopeful tone the lich acquired by the end of it? Momonga might had no facial muscles anymore – well, his character never did, but that was not the point – but even without them it was clear that he was still the same slightly awkward Guildmaster that tried his best to befriend everyone in the Guild.

Yami coughed uncomfortably.** "About that,"** He might as well tell him, because the truth would surely surface one way or another. **"I think we won't encounter Chubbotsu at all. I don't know about the others, but him…"**

That certainly got Momonga's attention, given that he very obviously cared deeply about the guild and its every member.

Yami dragged a sigh. **"Well, just before logging in I tried to make contact with him again, you know, because I also forgot to do that for two years. Then I find out that he's been dead for a year now." **

At Momonga's apparent blank stare, Yami reluctantly explained, **"I didn't want to bring it up before, because it must have been bitter enough for you that the game was ending, and I didn't want to sour it even more, Momonga-san." **

Momonga's reply, however, was rather different than what he was expecting. "Do you know the details behind it?"

Yami turned his heads to one side, **"No, I only checked the national registry. I do not know how it happened." **He admitted.

Momonga nodded at his words, and let his bony hands fall on the mahogany surface of his fancy desk. "Then there is the possibility that he was transported here – wherever this is – like us." The Titan uprighted a little from where he was sitting, ready to argue, but the Overlord wasn't done talking yet. "After all, if we are here, in our avatars, then it means that our original bodies are most likely dead back in the real world."

Yami contemplated the idea, and agreed somewhat with the logic, but, **"That if this isn't a feverish dream. Are we even sure this isn't a game malfunction or something?" **There were a thousand things on his mind in that moment, and more insistently kept piling up.

Momonga reclined on his chair, chuckling "I don't think so; this is all too real to be a dream, or a bug. Although," he said, "It did cross my mind that this might be something of a tech upgrade for YGGDRASIL II, though given that there are no ways to contact the Devs, or to log out, not even forcefully. Plus," he started tapping the fingers of his left hand on the polished wood, "even if it's numb, this level of sensory feedback is pretty much illegal, so it doesn't even make sense that the Devs may be using players to test an alpha version like that…" Suddenly, the Overlord stopped talking, as he brought two fingers to his temple.

Not knowing what was happening, Yami kept silent for a second, wondering what Momonga was doing.

After a moment, the Overlord rose from his seat and grabbed the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown that had been floating at his side all throughout their discussion. "Well, at the very least we are not in the game." He said as he started making his way towards the centre of the room, "From what Sebas just reported, we aren't on Helheim's swamps anymore, just perfectly normal grasslands in every direction. I also told Albedo to gather the Floor Guardians on the arena of the Sixth Floor, that we'll meet them there." He then turned his body to face Yami again.

**"Albedo? Was that the… ehm, chamberlain or something? You know, the one who was always at the Throne Room" **Yami guessed.

Momonga nodded, "She is the Guardian Overseer." His voice then turned very serious, "Meeting the Floor Guardians is also to test how they act."

Yami got to his feet, stretching his several arms while doing so. His two snake-like golden eyes directed right into Momonga's empty sockets. **"Why? What are you worried about?" **He asked carefully.

"I don't know if they will act in the lines of how they did back in the game, or if they can or will change allegiances. For all intents and purposes, they now act like breathing, living beings. What's to say that they won't turn on us?" There was a bit on an edge right at the end.

**"Well, I mean, if they wanted to do that they could have done so already, they had opportunities. From what I saw, Sebas acted pretty subservient, like what I would expect from an NPC." **He argued, **"But I give you a point. They may still act somewhat like in the game, but that may be only because they haven't been truly alive for very long. Or something." **

"Right, I'm glad you see my point. Now then, to that end, it will be better to show up prepared for the worst case scenario, so it would be best for you to change back into your battle gear."

**"Uh, yeah, about that… can you tell me how to access my inventory?"**

* * *

Passing through a portal made of pure blackness, two figures appeared in the middle of the arena in the Sixth Floor.

The first one, a large, humanoid-ish figure with six arms and three heads, donning an armour of intersecting plates, a stylized Corinthian helmet covering each head, a long crimson-coloured spear on his upper right hand while the three of his left hands were each secured on a different part of an enormous shield. He was Yami Yumi Yomi, an Erytheian Titan and a minor member of the once-prestigious, long-feared guild of Ainz Ooal Gown.

Instantly followed a figure of much lower height, but that didn't make him any less intimidating, as he was the very definition of Death Incarnate. Dressed in fine academic robes with large, decorative pauldrons, and standing with a caduceus filled with the damned souls of a thousand generations, his fiery red gaze promised doom to anything and anyone who stood on his path. He was Momonga, the very leader of the same guild.

But their dramatic entrance didn't have quite the effect they wanted, as there was no one to witness it in the first place, other than the rows upon rows of insentient spectator golems.

"Hmm, I would have thought that the Guardians would have already reached this floor, or that at the very least the twins would be here. This is their station, after all." Said Momonga as he inspected his surroundings.

Because it was true, there was no one there besides the two of them. Where could-

_"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_ A high-pitched scream coming from rather far interrupted any questioning thought any of the two may have had. Other noises and grunts followed the initial shriek.

Looking at each other for a second, Momonga quickly casted _[Mass Fly]_ on both of them, and they made way towards where the scream was originated. What greeted them when they finally got there, was the image of a small elf child waving around a wooden staff in the general direction of another elf child, who was hanging upside-down and had a leg trapped within the maws of an enormous snake. Or, more like, one of its _many_ maws.

"LE-ET ME GOOOO! BAD SNAKEY, BAD BAD BAD!" The one trapped said as she was swung around like a ragdoll. "FENNY! HELP ME!"

The big black wolf that was close lowered his ears and whimpered, but did nothing more.

The elf child was swung around a bit more.

"FENNY" _swoosh_ "YOU" _swoosh_ "DUMMY!" _swoosh_ "HELP ME I SAID!" _swoosh_ "HELP!" _swoosh _"ME!"

"O-onee-san, p-please calm down! I-I'll try to convince it to let you down, but you are needlessly agitating it." The one with the wooden staff stammered nervously.

"ME? AGITATING IT? MARE, ARE YOU BLIND!? IT'S HAVING THE TIME OF ITS LIFE!"

"Well- you did start annoying it first, so-"

"MARE!"

"Eep!"

By this point, Momonga and Yami had already made touchdown, and were observing the situation.

Finally, Yami levelled a flat stare at the Hydra, which was his strongest tamed beast, and the extra prize he got when he completed the _[Don't lose your Head] _questline with some people of the guild. **"Hebime." **He ordered, **"Let her down." **He wasn't even sure it would work, but it was better to try first rather than entering combat from the start.

The Hydra froze at his voice, and quickly heeded his orders.

Which meant that the now freed elf didn't have anything to stop her from freefalling from where she had been being held ten or so metres high.

"Aaaahh!"

_Thunk!_

"Oof!" Luckily, she was sturdy enough to resist such a fall without a problem. Within a second she was already picking herself up and dusting her clothes, all while badmouthing the Hydra that had kept her hostage.

Mare, the one with the staff, had noticed Momonga and Yami going their way, so he tried to catch his sister's attention. Not that he succeeded.

"O-onee-san, th-the…"

"What now, Mar-Ma-m- …" She finally turned around. Despite de extreme size difference, Yami saw perfectly how her eyes widened comically as she recognized both of them. "MM-Momomomomomomonga-sama! I am so sorry you had to see that!" Her whole face flushed red in embarrassment as she bent forward in an extremely formal bow, sincerely asking for forgiveness.

Meanwhile, the Hydra had chosen to ignore everyone except the Titan, as it pushed and rubbed its heads against Yami, who in turn was a little taken aback from the action. Soon enough, though, he was petting Hebime's muzzles – one per each hand.

Nothing like a ginormous mythological snake acting like a puppy to distract one from the fact that their whole world was turned upside-down. He couldn't quite contain the small smiles that slipped into his faces, although none could be seen behind the closed helmets.

He didn't quite catch what Aura – the girl elf – was saying as she apologized with a thousand words a second, so he petted her head too to make her shut up. Although that was slightly awkward because he was so tall and she was so short that he had to kneel to do so, even with one of his lower arms.

Momonga was saying something to Mare when suddenly he went silent and put two fingers to his temple, indicating he was currently talking with someone via _[Message]_. When he was done, he turned so he could address the three of them at the same time. "Albedo just notified me that they are already at the arena. We should get going there, then."

Again, Momonga and Yami held a silent conversation.

_Should I take Hebime with us, in case it breaks down to a fight?_

Momonga considered the Hydra for a moment.

_Sure, it seems loyal to you good enough. It would certainly help us if it comes down to that."_

Yami nodded, then turned towards the elven children.** "Okay then! Hop up, Hebime will take us there. One per head!"** Neither Hebime nor Aura seemed very thrilled with the prospect to deal with each other again just yet, but neither protested.

On the upside, travelling on the head of a Hydra was way less bumpy than what he would have expected.

* * *

***Le chapter end***

**I tried my best to not write exactly the same that happens in canon while at the same time not doing something completely different. Does that make any sense? Right.**

_**Technically,**_** Yami's Race shouldn't be categorized as Titan but as Giant, but Giants already existed in YGG and were Demi-humans and quite different from the Giants from the Gigantomachy. For simplicity's sake, let's just say that YGG's Devs took a bit of artistic liberties and leave it at that. **

**Thanks for reading! Next chapters will be gradually more divergent with canon, don't worry. Oh, and divergent they _will_ be. Till next time. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: To clear up a misunderstanding: Yami's build isn't all that well thought of, and classes such as [Beast Tamer] certainly don't help at building up his _own_ stats. What I meant with bad at PVP is that, in 1v1 _without_ any help (like tamed beasts), he is certainly to lose against someone dedicated to PVP.**

**With that out of the way, enjoy this chapter. Took me a bit longer because, well, reasons (classes, medic, etc, etc), but to compensate is _slightly _longer than the other chapters. I am still trying to warp my head around how to make a chapter, but eh. **

**Update 28/9: Betaed by a grumpy akubra-wearing wombat - fixed mistakes, spelling issues, and some sentence structures. **

* * *

**"Well that was,"** Yami drawled for a second. **"Awkward."**

Having the Guardians declare their undying loyalty to Momonga and the "Supreme Beings" eased the two players concerns about the NPCs' nature – somewhat – but still wasn't anything pleasant to be subjected to see, in both of their opinions. Neither had ever experienced anything similar, so they had frozen up on the spot, and all many of their passives had reactivated without them realizing.

**"But still, 'looking for the other guild members'? Momonga-san, we don't even know where here is."** The Titan continued, **"Be it another world or just the past, where would we even being to look for them? What's more, they treat us like divine entities, who knows what would happen if they find out there is nothing godly about us? If they find out the members left willingly?"** He pressed one hand in his outer temples while covering the entire face of his middle head with both his middle arms' hands. He wasn't ready to deal with any of this.

"Well, yes, I would like to look for the rest of the Guild, as we discussed before. What I told the Guardians was mostly on the spot though, they wanted to hear something and I told them the first thing that crossed my mind that, hopefully, would maintain their loyalty."

**"So we're playing gods now?"** Yami asked, dubious and disbelieving.

Momonga nodded once. "In a way. Until we can confirm they are no threat, I at least will act like this if only to maintain Nazarick as it is."

The lengths the Guildmaster went to maintain the status quo, sometimes. It really shows his devotion towards the Guild, and Yami suddenly felt inadequate for some reason.

"I'd like to ask for you to play along for the time being, Yami-san, but the thing is… I don't hold any desire to return to the real world, not really; but I know that you have a family to return to – Chubbotsu told me once, back when you logged-in to the game regularly but one week you didn't – so I understand if you'd rather…" Momonga's increasingly verbose monologue was cut short by Yami's sudden sighing.

The Titan turned around and slumped into a chair, which enlarged to fit his frame instantly. **"The thing is, Momonga-san,"** He started, barely over a whisper – at least by his new body's standards, **"My life took a… nosedive, just before I logged-in back into the game. I didn't – and I still don't – want to think too much about it, I just wanted to distract myself from the real world, and now this happens…"** He took a moment to breathe, **"I don't know what to do, or what to think. What I do know is that being idle is probably not a good idea for me right now."**

Momonga seemed slightly surprised at his declaration. The Overlord then moved closer and placed a hand on one of Yami's shoulders, likely trying being comforting and not doing a good job at it.

"I can't say I feel the same way – as you must have noticed, I have cared more about YGGDRASIL, about Ainz Ooal Gown, more than real life ever since we created the guild." He said before moving away, back to his seat at the mahogany desk of his office. "I find Nazarick and every NPC within its floors very precious, as the culmination of the wishes and dreams of everyone in the guild, my friends. But I can understand that you need time to come to terms with our new circumstances." He reclined in his seat, silent for a moment. Then, he chuckled. "You know, from what Sebas reported, we are in a real world, untouched by the pollution that was ever present back on Earth." He quietly said, lifting a hand to rub his angled chin. "I wonder if a real sky can hold a candle up to Blue Planet-san's work."

Jumping in at the first thing to distract him, Yami quipped, **"Care to find out, then?"**

* * *

"My Lords." Demiurge bowed respectfully, his subordinates doing the same instantly after. "May I ask why you both are not accompanied by your guards?" The Arch-Devil inquired,adjusting his glasses. "Nazarick is in high alert like you ordered, Momonga-sama, as we aren't sure of the situation. Our jobs and lives are to serve and protect the Supreme Beings, but if anything were to happen and we are not in the vicinity, then we would not be able to protect you with our lives."

The Overlord held up a hand to reassure the Devil, "It is all right, Demiurge – you worry overmuch. Yami-san and I were only going to inspect the immediate surroundings of the Tomb, nothing that warrants such drastic measures, if what Sebas reported is anything to go by."

This explanation however didn't satisfy the Devil, who made a gesture to continue to argue, but was cut short by Yami. **"I think you forget, Demiurge, that both Momonga-san and I can hold up a fight, and if really necessary, we also have the means to retreat without much of a problem."** He said, but he felt it was rather harsh on the Devil, so he added, **"We appreciate your concerns, but they are not really needed. In the hypothetical case something out there can hold their own against us, I don't think any NPC here would fare any better."** Momonga nodded at his words in agreement.

Demiurge seemed to ponder about it for a moment, before reluctantly yielding his protests. For the most part.

"I still cannot condone you two going without any guards. At the very least, let me accompany you."

The two players shared a gaze before nodding. "Very well Demiurge, you might follow us." Momonga said as they started walking towards the entrance of the Mausoleum.

The Devil bowed graciously again, "Thank you for agreeing with my selfish request."

They passed through the great double doors that marked the beginning of the First Floor. Beyond the graveyard that surrounded the main Mausoleum and the walls surrounding the complex, the sight of a seemingly endless expanse that reached all the way to the horizon greeted their eyes. The moon and the infinite, slightly dimmer stars that covered the night sky bathed the fields of grass in an ethereal light. It was unlike anything Yami had seen in the real world- on Earth, the Earth of the twenty-second century.

The sight left him without words.

Momonga casted [Mass Fly] on the three of them, and started levitating towards the sky. Yami followed him a second later, Demiurge following him in turn.

Contrary of what would happen in YGGDRASIL, it appeared to be that there was no height restriction on how high one could fly, and the horizon seemed to grow larger and larger, indefinitely. It was additional proof that this was a real world, not limited by any game restrictions.

Off in the distance, Yami saw what it seemed to be a mountainous range, contrasted with a glowing light blue horizon. The air was cold as it hit his body, yet he didn't feel any different. He remembered Blue Planet monologue-ing about how the air at extreme heights was thinner, and how it could cause asphyxiation or light-headedness depending on something – he doesn't quite remember the tirade all that well. The Sixth Floor had been the one Yami frequented the most back then, so it wasn't much of a surprise that Blue Planet's rants were some of the things he remembered the most.

"It's like a jewel box…" Momonga whispered, though it was clearly audible.

Yami found himself agreeing with the Guildmaster's thought. It was a sight that would have made the nature-loving members of the guild weep at its beauty.

The Overlord extended an arm towards the horizon, clenching his hand at the end, in an imitation of grabbing something. He then began speaking, his voice starting low, "…This world, every corner of it, every country, island, continent – we will spread the name of Ainz Ooal Gown, until every single being that draws breath knows of it, and the magnificence it represents!" His declaration quickly gained energy in a crescendo of elation at the thought of spreading the Guild's name.

Yami wasn't sure, but it could be that Momonga planned to do so only in the case other guild members were also in this world, as they would recognize the name and came looking for Nazarick, instead of Momonga futilely looking around without knowing where to begin.

The Titan still wasn't as optimistic as the Overlord was about finding their comrades, but he would be lying if he didn't have even the slightest glimmer of hope.

If it ends up being true, he then at least- what? He then what?

He would be able to say "sorry" to one of the only two people he was really close with, back on Earth? What for?

He tried his best to squash the thoughts, but a small, dark voice kept ringing in the back of his head.

What is the meaning of only me being left?

True, broadly speaking, Momonga was also somewhat-ish his friend, or at the very least a friendly acquaintance, along the rest of the guild in their own ways.

But in that moment… there were little of his old problems to worry about, if his new body worked like in the game. Yet he couldn't help but feel a bit hollow inside. Now he was almost completely alone, occupying an utterly alien body, surrounded by the creations of his fellow guild members. Some of whom considered him a superior being, though he barely knew who the creator of some of them even was.

He snapped from his thoughts just as Momonga and Demiurge had finished a short conversation.

His wife's face flashed before his eyes, and he felt a pang of something, something ugly, take hold of his lungs.

He needed time to think about things.

* * *

By the time day came, they had gathered enough information to get the general idea of Nazarick more extended surroundings.

Grass. For kilometers in every direction.

Well, that, and off at the distance it appeared to be a mountain range – the one he saw the silhouette of back then – and a woodland of undeterminable size as of yet. No signs of any kind of civilization, not even of animals of size bigger than a small dog.

**"I want- I need some time alone. My mind has been nothing if not turbulent, and it just won't stop. And I don't think it would be a good idea for me to be around, well, anyone right now. Don't worry, Momonga-san, I am not leaving you behind, and we should be able to keep in contact with [Message], but…"**

Momonga interrupted him by lifting an open palm, "I understand, Yami-san. If it were only me, I would give you the permission to go without a second thought – seeing as you can't exactly log out and I know that the members of the guild need their own private time." He said, before adding, "The NPCs, on the other hand… I don't think they would be exactly thrilled to let you go very far without a detachment to guard you at all times. They are already not very happy that they aren't able to do so within the walls of Nazarick."

The Titan turned so the Overlord could only see his profile, a hand massaging one of his temples as he sighed. **"Then I won't go alone, I'll just take Hebime with me."** He dropped his hand to the side. **"I mean, she might not be the [Guardian of the Lerna], but she is still a small copy of it – and you remember how difficult it was for our reduced party to deal with it. With extra buffs from my tamer classes, I don't think I would be caught off guard that easily."**

The Overlord hummed, considering his words. "Well, I do think that your reasoning is sensible, but I wouldn't expect the NPCs to leave it be at that if I were you."

Yami sighed. **"I don't know, just make up a story of how I went looking for the rest of the members of the guild, or something."** He then was silent for a moment, pondering about it further. **"There is also the problem of food. I don't think Nazarick has enough stock of it to support all of the NPCs. Plus, now we also have all the bestiary of the Sixth Floor to feed – although I'm not completely sure if they actually need to eat. One thing that's sure is that Hebime alone would probably strain the food reserves by a large margin. Also, I don't think we have enough [Rings of Sustenance] for all the NPCs – do we?"**

Momonga pointed with his index finger before he used the same hand to stroke his chin. "Well, yes, you have a point. Many of the NPCs are considered living, so they need basic things like food and rest are something to have in mind." He conceded, nodding as he did so. "Very well, I'll see what I can do." After a moment of quietude, the Overlord then tried to change the subject – not all that subtly if Yami were to be honest. "So, the Hydra is a female. That's essentially all your argument against the name down the drain. What's so bad about Drakaina Kiyohime?"

The Titan visibly shuddered, **"What's so bad about it? The real question is what's not bad about it? I don't know why I even asked you guys for help to find a name for her. Hebime works just fine."**

"Maybe because your naming sense is...ah... pretty awful?" Momonga offered.

Yami levelled him with a flat stare. **"Nearly everyone in the guild has an obnoxious nickname. Including me, I admit; but you can't really say anything about it, Momonga-san."**

Both players stood silent for a moment before chuckling. It was true too, but then again, most people had to resort to using the first thing that came to their minds when all their previous username attempts were met with "This username is already in use".

After a while, Yami decided it was better to go prepare for the next few days of aimless wandering.

Just as he was about to leave the room, the Guildmaster called out for him,

"And Yami-san?"

He turned to face the skeleton Sorcerer again, who took a second before completing what he wanted to say.

"Please be careful."

Yami nodded, dipping all three of his heads, and exited the office.

* * *

When one thinks about a snake, the word fast isn't exactly the first thing that comes to mind. Sure, some of them – Yami isn't sure, he had never seen one back on Earth as any animals that still existed were kept inside the arcologies in zoos, or so he had heard – must have been fast in those split-of-a-second moments when they attacked a prey, but otherwise they weren't animals notorious for the speed they travelled as they crawled in the dirt.

One would think, then, that the snake being bigger wouldn't make much of a difference in their travelling speed.

And that's where everyone was wrong.

Seated at the top of one of Hebime's many heads, Yami goggled, baffled, as the surrounding grassland was turned into a green blur as the thirty-metre long Hydra merrily made her way towards the fast-approaching forest.

Maybe it was because Hebime counted as a mount, or maybe it was because Yami's own tamer classes – or maybe both –, but the Titan idly wondered how he hadn't been thrown off from where he was by the sheer inertia he should have experienced.

In some aspects, this new life had more similarities with YGGDRASIL than what one would expect from a "real world", beyond the obvious.

Getting away from Nazarick wasn't easy – not that he expected to – but luckily Momonga had convinced them to let him leave alone.

With some luck, there is something out there for him to fight. He really wanted to punch something.

He patted Hebime's head where he was sitting, and the Hydra made a strange hissing sound that could be compared with something like the purr from a cat.

In a way, he was glad that he wasn't completely alone, but even more that Hebime couldn't talk. He didn't feel like answering questions.

**"Don't look at me like that."** He told one of the heads that approached him at his eye level. **"I'm fine, really."** The Hydra made a sound that was suspiciously like a snort.

Scratch that, he would have preferred to travel completely alone.

In less than fifteen minutes, he had already reached the outskirts of the woodland, that were actually larger than any of the NPCs had predicted. Standing on top of Hebime's head he could just barely see above the forest, and before him laid a sea of trees that had seemingly no end, just like the sea of grass behind him.

Jumping down from where he had been travelling, he crouched and narrowed his uncovered eyes as his fall made a good deal of dirt to shoot up in the air.

YGGDRASIL's environment was partially destructible, but there was a hard limit players could modify the terrain, even with super-tier spells – bar some very rare World Items.

An idea struck him. True, he and Momonga had already accepted this world as being real, but that didn't mean he couldn't test how real it was. He was aware it was a bad idea.

But he really needed to punch something.

Turning towards his tamed beast, Yami ordered her – more like gave his permission – to hunt whatever beasts may be nearby. The Hydra made a sound of delight and started moving, this time her heads hung closer to the ground to have a lower profile.

Not that it mattered much; she was a thirty-metre-long giant snake. Not exactly subtle.

He then began to test how real reality was.

Unnoticed, a column of black smoke rose into the air, not far in the distance.

* * *

He wasn't wound down, not by a long stretch, but he felt like he had finally taken something out of his chest, somehow.

He left behind a trail of absolute destruction to do so, but the forest seemed to grow ten trees for each he reduced to splinters, so he wasn't really worried about that.

Blue Planet-san would have killed him a million times if he saw Yami do that to nature. He let out a small snort at the thought.

Not far away, the Titan saw Hebime busy trying to swallow what appeared to be a Midgardian Warthog whole, a gigantic species that were rather difficult mobs for those who were starting the game. True, it wasn't as big as the Hydra – or Yami himself, his frame was also rather big – but still, it was slightly bigger than Hebime's heads.

His thoughts halted in that moment, as he inspected the warthog once more.

Indeed, it was almost identical to the mobs of Midgard – hence their name – and the question was, "what is a mob from the game doing here? Is this the proof that it wasn't just Momonga and Yami, and there might be more out there?"

But the most important question of the lot, in that moment, was,

"I wonder what it tastes like."

But it was already too late by the time the thought passed through his mind, as the Hydra had already finished swallowing the beast whole.

**"Damn. Well, there must be more from where that one came from."**

Surveying the immediate surroundings, he didn't detect any noteworthy life form. Probably because any that may have inhabited the area fled when he started destroying the forest, but there wasn't much he could do about that, now that the deed was already done.

He kneeled and placed a hand on the soil, activating a skill named [Predator Sense] that was useful for Beast Tamers to look for beasts when they start the game. It was not of much use at higher levels as higher level beasts most of the time weren't revealed by this skill, in the words of the Devs, to make rare beasts rare amongst Tamer players. Probably.

Not that there were many Beast Tamers to begin with, but hey, the Devs were known to nerf things to oblivion while making other jobs completely broken.

Such was the way of YGGDRASIL.

After activating the skill, Yami could suddenly see the traces of a myriad of different animals that had passed through that particular section of the forest.

Well, he did leave Nazarick partly to look for alternative sources of food. He might as well see whether the game in these parts was edible.

* * *

"It's no use, Captain. We were late." A man declared gravely, his face darkened by the visage that met their group as they approached the charred remains of what once was a thriving village.

What corpses hadn't been burned by the fires, only left a much more explicit tale of their demise. Most people didn't even die swiftly, they were left to agonize, powerless, as they saw their lives crashing down on them.

No one had been spared. The man carefully picked up a doll that had been left in the middle of the road, and slowly made his way towards a group of bodies; placing said doll in the arms of a dead child as he tried to close those eyes- those haunting eyes, filled with absolute horror even after all light had escaped them.

This wasn't the first time the Captain or his subordinates had seen such a sight, yet it was something that no one became desensitized to.

How could they, if they could see all their loved ones superimposed with the faces of the victims so easily? Nearly all of them hailed from villages just like this one, and the thought of failing them, like they failed all these people made their stomachs churn, their lungs set ablaze.

The man's expression never shifted, but everyone in the corps knew that their Captain was also like them, and kept his composure so they could lose it, if only for a second. But out of all of them, it was the Captain the one who cared about the common people the most, as his reputation could attest to.

"Captain!" another soldier shouted at the edge of the village, clear agitation on his voice. "You have to see this!"

The Captain looked at his second in command, giving him a silent order to finish the mass grave, while he inspected what their patrol spotted.

Galloping there on his trusty steed, he didn't even need to be close to what the scout had shouted about to see what it was.

It sort of cleared some of his questions, but at the same time created even more intrigue.

"T-that!-" One of the warriors uttered, "I recognize that uniform!"

"How could you not, you dipshit!" Another chopped the head of the first in clear exasperation. "We fight against the Empire every year! It's bloody obvious for all of us that its one of their Knights!"

The Captain narrowed his eyes at the view of the dead Knight – something was not right there. He wasn't normally one to indicate the obvious, but being impaled by a whole tree must be one of the most gruesome ways to die he had seen that day.

The tree had been ripped from its roots, and it had landed top-first against the Knight's stomach, pinning him down to the floor.

How the hell had that happened?

"Captain!" Another of their scouts shouted, much like the first one. "You have t-to see this…"

Not far from the village and into the forest, the Warriors of the Kingdom saw devastation like few others had swept a good part of the woods, like a godly – or demonic – being had unleashed their wrath upon the earth.

Suddenly, the Warrior Captain felt he was dealing with something bigger than he first expected – and he had started this mission expecting things to escalate in the first place, but this was maybe too much.

Either way, he had an oath to follow, and a mission to complete.

"Look for any Imperial Knights! They might have encountered something dangerous in the forest as they retreated! We need them alive, so don't take justice by your own hands if you can!" The Captain ordered his men.

He might have to report this to the King as an emergency, who knows what danger lurks within that forest. The Wise King of the Forest had never been reported to wreak so much destruction, and in fact, left humans alone for the most part.

But his gut told him he was dealing with something else.

This was something much more dangerous.

* * *

**Chapter end. **

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for reading, you chap!**

**(A/N: I didn't realize when I started writing it, only after I already wrote the end chapter, but I'm sorry I forgot about you. Requiescat in pace.) **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Betaed by the same grumpy akubra-wearing wombat. **

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Silence.

Under the leaves of the trees, the soft, last rays of sunshine struggled to penetrate the slowly setting darkness. The forest was full of noise and movement, many of its inhabitants scampering about, trying to find safe havens for the night.

A group of Midgardian warthogs found a small clearing to such purposes, and they positioned themselves in such a way to guard the youngsters in case of an attack, while an adult kept watch.

The silence surrounding the group of beasts was unnatural. Not even the wind made a sound as it moved and pushed the tree's leaves, nor insects uttered a sound. And yet the warthogs, with their limited intelligence failed to realize the fact.

Until there was a sound, but by then it was already too late. In an instant, a red blur crossed the distance between a hidden figure and the pack, impaling itself through three beasts before its momentum was somewhat drained enough to change trajectory into the floor, kicking up dirt in the process. Howls of pain of the mortally injured animals induced panic within the rest of the group, which began fleeing in all directions, only for each to be intercepted by an enormous, multi-headed serpent.

The squeals and shrieks of terror of the beasts lasted only for a moment, before the surroundings were again consumed by the silence.

Yami then moved from where he had been stalking his prey, and approached the results of his hunt. The beasts had already drawn their last breaths, likely for excessive internal organ damage as _[Luín Gáebulg]_, his spear, caused when it pierced their bodies and pinned them together. He grabbed the shaft of the weapon, lifting the three animals with it in a crude and almost grotesque imitation of a brochette, and hung them over his shoulder.

Overall, the hunt had been successful, and the experiments he made during it further proved that although originally from YGGDRASIL, many of his restrictions were less strictly enforced. Or, in some cases – like with skills – slightly changed from their game's counterparts.

He had yet to try his tamer skills properly, but so far he had not seen anything noteworthy enough to warrant the use of them. Interestingly enough, he couldn't really discern the levels of any animal he encountered, not even those who looked straight off YGGDRASIL – the information that was fed to his head when he tried to do so only returned in a blank. It could be that discern skills were rendered useless in this new world, or that the concept of "levels" was foreign to actual living, breathing beings. Either way, based off – admittedly rather foggy – memories from the game, there had been no beast over level ten, at maximum. Compared with his maxed level and endgame gear, and Hebime…

He looked at the Hydra, who was happily devouring the rest of the warthog pack. Well, it all had been rather excessive from his part. "**If you keep eating like that, you're going to get fat."**

Hebime stopped gobbling down the animals for a moment, turning a disbelieving eye to him, then snorting. She then continued merrily with her meal.

Yami shook his heads in amusement, before making way to a fireplace he had prepared earlier, with some of the drier chunks of wood from the trees he had destroyed. To light the fire, he used a one-time-use item called _[Fire Fennel] _that was normally used to enchant a weapon with the fire element for about a minute, and normally wasn't used for much more outside of crafting – not that he knew how a one-time-use could be useful in any way, but it apparently had been.

After the fire was raging and consuming the fuel prepared for it, he inspected the animals – now dislodged from his spear, which somewhat unexpectedly was still pristine and didn't have a single drop of blood anywhere on its surface – and considered what to do. He didn't know what to do with them, or more precisely, how to prepare them. But he was plenty sure they had to be skinned first before being cooked, so taking a knife he took with him, he tried to separate the beast's skin from their meat.

The results were messy to put it mildly, there was blood everywhere, and the meat was a bit charred in some parts while undercooked on others. Sometime while he was trying to prepare his dinner, Hebime approached the fire – not too close, but neither too far – circling a few times around it, and her gaze, he _swore_, was mocking him.

And the taste was awful.

But it made him remember.

And while he ate, sitting in the forest floor leaning his back on the Hydra's body, he meditated about his predicament.

"Kuh." He tried to repress it, but it was a losing battle. Not long after, he couldn't contain it anymore.

"Kh…ha-ha…hahahahahahahHAHAHA…" His almost delirious laughter was the only thing that could be heard in the immediate surroundings. He couldn't help it. He found it all ridiculous, he felt that he was drowning.

No more endless hours of a pointless job in the desperate pursuit of a payment enough to keep him alive in a world so uncaring and apathetic that it might as well have wanted him dead. No more faceless megacorporations squishing him – and everybody else, really – underfoot. No more toxic air. No more endless, smoggy skies.

And, as far as he saw, no more humans.

He pondered over the subject for a long time, even after he finished eating the three warthogs and the fire died down until only a few small embers remained, while looking at the clear, infinite expanse of the night sky.

He reached the conclusion that he had no lingering attachments with humanity as a whole. His studies may had not been as deep as someone from the arcology, and he may have not been able to dig deeper into things, thanks to his job wearing him to the bone, but he was aware that _humans_ were the cause of the state of the world.

He had listened to Blue Planet's rants enough times to have this fact drilled into his head.

That is not to say, however, that he hadn't had attachments to some individuals. He wasn't going to deny that.

His sight fell from the stars to the ground again, as he fiddled with the _[Ethereal Cutter] _he used to prepare his meal, a knife once property of his old friend, or the real equivalent of it.

His keen eyes noticed a rather large rock, contrasting with the trees surrounding it. Behind it, far into the distance but not as far as it had been back on Nazarick, was the mountain range from where the stone might have come from. The how or why completely evaded him, but he didn't really care either way.

He continued fiddling with the knife, until he made up his mind about it. He got up, slightly startling Hebime from where she had been resting, but then she calmed down as Yami held up a hand. He walked up to the rock and, not really knowing what to expect, thrust at it with the knife.

The blade embedded itself up to the hilt with little to no problem. He pulled it out, inspected it, and saw no mark of damage on its translucent, bluish edge.

He started working on it, while one of Hebime's heads lazily kept watch over him and her others on the surroundings.

He had to start over many times as he used too much force the first few tries until he got it right.

Dawn was breaking by the time he finished, the sun rising from his right side and its presence tainting the sky blue.

He assumed a _seiza _position – something he didn't normally do, though for this occasion felt fitting. Although it was a bit more uncomfortable on this body than in his previous life, he didn't find much of a problem doing it. Praying was a bit different though, seeing as he didn't know what to do with the four extra arms. At the end, he decided to use his two upper pair of hands to pray while the lower two hands rested on his lap. He closed his eyes for a moment, and, though he didn't exactly pray to anything, he tried to… _something,_ though unclear for him what.

Not finding much of a point of doing it any longer, he stood up, nodding once at the carvings, and then turned around to recollect his belongings.

Now that it was a new day, he might try to test some of the skills he had yet to, or try to do things that were impossibilities back on the game.

He picked up his spear from where he had left it embedded on the floor. Impossibilities like throwing one's weapon, for example; something he had proved was doable the day prior when he hunted. It was something to keep in mind, if he ever found himself in battle now that he was in this new world.

He lifted the weapon up in the air, and with a casual swing, destroyed another tree. Though, the amount of power the spear had when he threw it was much less than when he used it normally.

He re-equipped his helmets, grabbed _[Ancile Aegis]_ and secured it on his three left arms, and motioned Hebime to follow him. The Hydra lazily uncoiled from where she had been resting, making some disgruntled sounds as she did so. Or so he interpreted them as.

Looking at the rock once more, he wondered what possessed him to do that, though he let it be. He turned around and activated _[Predator Sense] _and _[Detect Life]_, continuing his exploration and search for new monsters to tame.

He chuckled at the thought. Maybe Subaru had been right when he said that Yami hunted pokemons.

"**Let's go."**

* * *

Several hours of strolling through the forest later, he finally concluded that there wasn't much of note. He had encountered – more like detected from a distance with tracker skills – different types of beasts and, interestingly enough, demi-humans such as goblins and ogres. As far as he could tell, the demi-humans were pitifully weak. They were also the most basic forms of them, he hadn't seen evidence of anything even remotely close to a Goblin Shaman, for example. Not even hobgoblins, now that he thought about it.

Sure, there had been those magic wolf-like things with floating chains which looked kind of interesting, but Yami didn't try anything with those after he threw a pebble at one, and it dropped dead.

_A pebble._

It wasn't as he had any hurry to go back to Nazarick… or for anything for that matter, so even if the inhabitants of the forest were a massive letdown, he would continue walking aimlessly until he got out of it without meaning to, or until he got fed up with it and mounted Hebime again.

He was still using _[Predator Sense] _and _[Detect Life] _at regular intervals, though he wasn't really expecting anything to come up. Both for the facts that those skills would detect lifeforms up to about level forty or so, and his own experiences with this forest.

Until-

He saw it perfectly, time almost slowing down to a crawl as a green, scaled _something_ that resembled a particularly thick whip approached him at a high speed.

Yami's reaction was instantaneous and completely subconscious as he raised his shield, and parried the scaled thing. It swiftly snaked back into the trees, disappearing from view.

"_Whatever that thing is, it's pretty fast._" And strong too, at least compared with everything else in the forest excluding himself and Hebime, as he didn't detect it with either of his tracking skills. "_It could be an undead though"_, but that was unlikely, as he had yet to see any outside of Nazarick.

Just as suddenly as the attack, a distorted, almost phantasmagorical voice rang out from everywhere at once.

"_**I commend you for that magnificent block. 'Tis been a long time since any fool who dared step into my territory has managed to do such a feat."**_

"_Okay, maybe it is an undead."_ Yami thought, trying to pinpoint the location of the creature-individual. "**Who are you? Show yourself. If you want a fight, I have no qualms about giving it to you."**

He _could_ try to use a higher level tracking skill, but something told him that it would be a waste of energy.

"_**Hou… a haughty one, aren't you? And to enter my domain without knowing of this one's legendary feats! Very well, challenger, I shall face you!"**_

"**You…" **Yami was perplexed.

"_**Mufufu… has my appearance taken you from your high horse? I must admit, you cut an imposing figure yourself. You'll make a worthy opponent to this one, known as The Wise King of the Forest!"**_ The creature who was talking stepped into the field, figuratively, revealing itself as a... an enormous hamster with a scaly tail.

"**Huh." **The Titan wasn't sure what to say – or how to react – so he stood there, staring at the gigantic rodent blankly, who seemed to grow annoyed at his lack of reply.

"Introduce yourself! I shall remember your name after you perish, if you prove to be a worthy adversary."

Yami snorted. Hard. Which quickly evolved into a fit of laughter, poorly suppressed.

The Wise King of the Forest's annoyance with him grew to a point where it snapped, "Very well! You shall regret taking this one lightly!" Restarting its assault on him, again using its tail as a whip that Yami deflected with his shield without much of a problem.

Snapping out of his laughter – a bit – the Titan shook his heads before responding to the hamster's earlier demand, all while blocking and deflecting all blows.

"**You wanted to know my name?" **_clang _"**I don't see the reason why you would, but very well."** _clang_ "**My name is Yami Yumi Yomi." **_clang_**.**

The two of them un-tangoed for a moment – or more accurately, the hamster stopped attacking. "Your strength, skill, and the quality of your equipment… I assume you must be someone highly regarded amongst your people." The beast praised.

Yami kept silent for a moment. "… **I am no one noteworthy."** He finally said as he let his guard drop a little. It was true, from his perspective. He knew very well that other members of the guild overshadowed him in terms of a well-balanced, optimal build. His character – _himself, _now – wasn't anything to pay a second glance for most other max level players.

"Hou? Then your people must be rather terrifying in combat, for such a powerful individual as you to be considered unremarkable."

Yami hummed in response. He weighed the pros and cons of taming this beast – namely, the fact that it apparently was strong enough in this world to be able to beat anything that came its way. The fact that it was capable of speech – the how was beyond him, probably _magic_ –, and that it may have an idea of the rest of the world. Or at the very least, the surroundings, was an additional bonus.

"_It did say it was a King."_ Did that meant it ruled over a large number of fluffy, slightly smaller giant hamsters? Or was the title merely fluff?

He was interested in knowing how strong was _strong_ in this world, and if the creature's claims were anything to go by, you couldn't go stronger than it.

He pointed his spear, which had not been used throughout the clash before, at the Wise King in a taunting manner. "**Fight me with everything you have. I'll show you what strong **_**is**_**."**

The creature grew annoyed again, launching itself at him in a full-body attack. "I shall make you regret your words!"

The fight consisted of many moves on both sides, at such a speed that the air crackled every second. Though it did not last long, the Wise King launched a barrage of different kinds of attacks, ranging from purely physical to magical – it appeared that it was a magical creature, but Yami couldn't remember having encountered a giant hamster on YGGDRASIL, though it could have been added during the years he was absent.

He finally decided that it was a better idea to tame it rather than killing it. He cut the exchange of blows short with a slightly more powerful shield bash than anything he had been using during the pathetic excuse for a fight it had been, hoping that he wouldn't kill it if he attacked it with the shield. He was glad that Hebime hadn't been present; she would have gobbled it down in the first thirty seconds.

_CLANG!_

The creature was sent flying a bit further than what Yami had intended, but a low groan of pain reassured him.

He approached the downed hamster, extending an empty hand with the goal of activating his tamer skills. However,

"EEEP! I SURRENDER! I CONCEDE DEFEAT! PLEASE SPARE ME!" The "Wise King" screeched in panic, hugging its tail with its forepaws.

"**[Charm Species]" **He calmed the hamster with a spell, before using a taming skill appropriate for a beast of about level thirty. How did this "Wise King of the Forest" elude his tracking skills, as nothing he saw it doing was particularly out there. Certainly under level fifty, and he guessed that level forty was a bit too high for it.

"**You will serve me." **It was not a question, and he did not word it as such.

"Yes! I obey!" The hamster agreed automatically, even eagerly.

The Titan lowered his arms as he inspected the pitiful sight of the being that had introduced itself to him as "The Wise King of the Forest".

"**What should I call you? I can't go around calling you 'Wise King' or 'you'. You need a name."**

The hamster was again on all fours, though held its belly against floor in clear submission. "You may name this lowly one as you see fit, milord." It said meekly. "I never had a name, or one that I can remember."

Yami made an indescribable sound, he was not looking forward to this. He knew very well that he never had good ideas when naming, well, _anything_, and he was plenty sure Momonga would laugh at him for whatever name he gave the hamster.

Deciding to go with the name that didn't require any thought, Yami declared, "**Your name henceforth is Hamsuke." **Immediately after he said it, he had to fight back an overwhelming urge to facepalm.

_Great job, Hajime, you just outdid yourself._

"Yes! Thank you for granting me such a powerful-sounding name, milord!" Yami stared at the newly-named Hamsuke in bemusement, but decided against commenting.

Suddenly, a rush of information flooded his mind about the newly tamed beast, a thing that he somewhat recognized from doing back in the game, although this time there was no popup or interface, it was fed _directly _into his brain – _brains?_

After he recovered from the information dump he had suffered – noting that there were no mentions of levels anywhere – he turned towards Hamsuke and stared in bafflement.

"**You're female?"**

Hamsuke tilted her head to the side. "Whatever do you mean, my lord?"

Yami took a deep breath and sighed, thinking that he might have been a _little _too hasty naming the giant hamster. "**Nothing, nevermind that." **

He could imagine Subaru making some witty, inappropriate, and completely unasked for comment about the situation he found himself in while laughing his ass off. Yami groaned at the mere thought of his old friend's hysterical laughter.

He decided to ignore the thought, in favour of getting some information from Hamsuke. But first, he kneeled so he could touch the ground with an open palm, and called for his pet Hydra.

"**[Summon: Drakaina Kiyohime]!" **It almost physically hurt him to say it, and wondered, not for the first time why did the Hydra not respond when he tried with _Hebime_ instead, seeing as she reacted just fine when he called her that in person.

The ground started trembling slightly, and within moments, the sounds of a scaled body could be heard crawling through the forest at high speed. There was no other way of explaining that sound.

Hamsuke was startled when Hebime finally appeared.

The Hydra's bright yellow eyes looked at him, then at the hamster, and back at him.

"**No, you can't eat her. I just tamed her, and will be accompanying us until we get back to Nazarick."** He flatly told the multi-headed serpent.

Hamsuke gathered enough courage to talk again, even though she looked absolutely terrified of the Hydra. "S-so, is this another servant of milord? I must say, as expected of someone as powerful as you!"

Hebime spared the rodent a glance before snorting, and Yami just grunted. "**Now, tell me…"**

-line break-

Hamsuke's whiskers suddenly twitched, making her to stop in her tracks and lift her head into the air. Yami noticed it and stopped at the same time, looking at the hamster sideways as he wondered what she was doing.

"There are intruders venturing into your domain, milord. Shall I remove them?" The giant rodent finally said, whiskers still twitching.

Yami turned his heads, not fully following what Hamsuke was saying. "**My what now?"**

Hamsuke turned her head fully to face him, something akin to surprise appearing in her eyes. "What do you mean, milord? Obviously, the territory I was in possession of was passed on to you the moment you beat me and I swore my allegiance. 'Tis only natural."

The Titan grunted in understanding. "**Then, what can you tell me about those intruders?"**

Hamsuke turned again facing forwards, nose up in the air. "It's a group of humans. I don't recognize any of their scents; they aren't the ones from the human nest that's nearby." She said, before adding, "They smell stronger than the normal human that I've normally encountered, though none are in the same league as this Hamsuke, let alone someone as powerful as my lord."

"**Humans? So, there are humans here too…" **He said, falling into deep thought at the end.

He looked at the giant rodent, then at Hebime. The Hydra would be too much of an overkill, if what Hamsuke said was correct. He couldn't pass up the chance to see what humans were capable of in this world, seeing as Hamsuke herself was capable of casting something that resembled-but-was-not-quite Tier Magic from YGGDRASIL.

That, and to see if what Hamsuke called "human" was the same thing he considered "human".

If they were truly weaker than the hamster, then fighting them himself was out of the question – he would turn them into paste without even trying, probably.

Instead, he did the next best thing to find out as much information as possible. He buffed Hamsuke with a bunch of mid-tier skills, first to figure out how they acted – if at all – in this world. It didn't seem that there were any issues as Hamsuke started glowing faintly, her silvery fur waving for a moment as if she were to be falling.

"I feel stronger than ever! Is that a power of yours, milord?" she said excitedly.

Yami hummed in the affirmative, and then ordered, "**Go. Incapacitate them, but do not kill them. I have questions to ask them."**

Maybe directly asking them without resorting to violence first was a better idea, but he also needed to find out about the world in one way or another. Hey, he did tell Hamsuke to not use lethal force, so it might be okay. Worst comes to worst, he might need to use a healing potion or something.

"Yes, my Lord!" Hamsuke replied, and bolted out at a lightning-fast speed.

Yami stared amusedly at where the hamster disappeared into, and a moment later followed at a slow pace, motioning Hebime to follow after him.

* * *

**That's all. Till next time.**

**Thanks for reading! **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Betaed by your friendly grumpy akubra-wearing wombat. This chapter is a bit shorter than the rest, but I decided against adding scenes for the next one. **

**Enjoy**

* * *

"Captain!" A man in white and black robes said loudly, agitation clear in his face.

The Captain retracted his telescope, watching the horizon, as the sun slowly slid down beyond it. "Tch. I know what you want to say. I saw it." He interrupted before the man could say anything else. "Damn sub-human beings, their brute force is the only thing they have going for themselves. What's more important, Stronoff was late again. At this rate, I wonder if we'll ever be able to catch him like this. The man is slower in his pursuit than we gave him credit for." He calmly said, though a faint tinge of irritation could be heard on his voice.

Turning around, he saw his subordinate still standing there. "What? Do you have anything else to report?" The Captain asked, though judging from his tone, he didn't want an answer.

"Eh- ah, Sir, the decoy group-" The man started, but the Captain interrupted him again.

"Didn't suffer enough casualties as to warrant the termination of this mission. I am the Commander in charge of this Operation; one given by none other than the Pontifex Maximus." His blue eyes darkened dangerously. "And we are not going to fail this mission. _I _am not going to fail this mission. Understood?"

The subordinate saluted, though his legs were shaky from fright. Whether it was caused by the Captain's intimidating presence, or by their new unforeseen and yet unknown third party, it was yet to be seen. "YES SIR!"

"Then what are you doing here? Go back and help the others. We are moving to the next village." He acted as if he didn't think much about what befell the decoy group in the previous hamlet, though in reality he was quite nervous about it.

Whatever had made its lair in the Forest of Tob, was quite dangerous. He didn't fear facing Gazef Stronoff, mainly because as powerful as he was, he was still just a single warrior. But if this new monster was to appear while he and Stronoff battled it out, then it could get... tricky.

This couldn't be the "Wise King of the Forest", as ridiculous and presumptuous the beast's title was, it didn't attack humans; not like that. He was confident that his Scripture could handle the Wise King without much of a problem, but this new one…

He shook his head. He _will_ succeed, like always.

He brought up a hand to his scarred face, grimacing at the memory. He _had _to succeed.

For the good of Humanity.

* * *

Momonga was seriously re-evaluating his decision of letting Yami Yumi Yomi go exploring alone. Since then, the rest of the denizens of Nazarick were even more watchful of the Overlord, as if they were nervous he would disappear the moment they lost sight of him.

It was honestly wearing him down. Back when Yami had been on the Tomb, the NPCs' attention was split between the two, and so Momonga hadn't felt as pressured as he was now.

"Is something an issue, Momonga-sama?" A somewhat aged voice rang from behind him and disrupted the Overlord's thoughts.

Momonga turned around to address the NPC that now had the shift of '_keeping an eye on Momonga'_, as he dubbed it. The NPCs called it personal butler/maid time. He shook his bare skull in the negative, "No, Sebas. It's nothing."

The butler, Sebas, bowed slightly, with one hand on his chest and the other on his back. "If you need anything, feel free to ask me." He said, resuming his silent watch over Momonga.

'_I know',_ thought said Overlord, '_you've already said so before.'_

Momonga had a difficult time dealing with the NPCs, ever since coming to this new world. Although now fully sentient and thinking beings, living or undead, most of them acted in such a way that was unnatural for such an individual. He had to ask many of the servants to take a rest before they work themselves to exhaustion, and what's more, many of them seemed to be offended at the thought of stopping working, even if for a moment.

It was a painful sight for Momonga, who saw every single NPC as the children of his friends, working themselves to the bone in an attempt to 'please the Supreme Beings'.

Momonga sighed, leaving those worries for later. Changing their behaviour would take time, he knew, and was better to start gradually rather than impose a complete change of lifestyle out of the blue. They were (un)living beings, after all, so it was within reason that they could adapt.

Snapping back to the present issue, though, Momonga wondered if it wasn't a waste of time. Gently floating in front of where he was sitting, a mirror of around a metre wide stood, although instead of reflecting the image of the Overlord, it was projecting the image of a field of grass, not unlike what he would see around the entrance to the Tomb of Nazarick.

He had been fiddling with this artefact for what felt like hours on end, on the effort of surveying the world around him from a safe distance and within the Guild Base, in contrast with his fellow player who bravely – if not stupidly – ventured out into the unknown himself.

But Momonga's efforts so far proved to be in vain. As he swiped his hand in the air, the image projected by the mirror shifted focus, until it found yet _another_ patch of grass to show him. He suppressed a sigh, not wanting to break the act of the 'All-knowing, all-powerful Overlord' the denizens of Nazarick thought of him as, as he didn't know yet how would they react to the truth.

'_If only this mirror were to show me what I wanted to see.'_ Momonga couldn't help but think in irritation. Originally, it sounded like a great idea – this [Mirror of Remote Viewing] was an excellent choice back in the game to survey terrain and prepare for an ambush, especially for the so-called PKs and PKKs. However, there were countermeasures for this item in the form of anti-scrying spells, and it was possible for the user to be counterattacked by offensive barriers. The usefulness of this item was… average, at the very best.

In this new world, its usefulness seemed to have been reduced even more, as the lack of user interface meant that Momonga had to figure out how to control it without the convenient menus.

Cue the long hours he had been there, waving his hands randomly, and having seen a thousand and one different angles of grass.

The Overlord had grown bored of it long time ago already, but he couldn't exactly do anything else in the room, as he didn't know how to interact with Sebas, or more precisely, what to say as to not be lectured again by the old butler.

Sebas had been one of the more outspoken in his objection on the Supreme Beings' excursion to the outside with 'less than minimal guards', and especially in his protest against letting Yami Yumi Yomi venture outside of Nazarick with only one of his tamed beasts as company.

For the sake of maintaining the act of the 'Omnipotent Leader', Momonga tried not to speak with Sebas for the moment, hoping this way that he wouldn't get busted.

But staring at grass for hours on end was just _so boring._ Still, he couldn't just give up halfway in his task. It would give a bad example to his subordinates, and he didn't want that. He wanted to lead with a good example, so hopefully the NPCs would copy his working habits. Including his rests, though he was undead and didn't really feel physical fatigue.

After long, painfully monotonous hours of trial and error, he finally grasped – more or less – how to utilize the artefact. Sebas praised him for his accomplishments, though Momonga couldn't tell if the butler had been sarcastic or not. It was difficult to judge only by the tone, as the dragonoid's face barely twitched.

After figuring out how to control the mirror, Momonga continued with his most important task, looking for any sign of civilization.

He was also rather worried about his guildmate, but as he hadn't received any distress signal or message, he left it be. Making up his mind about it, he decided to start looking around the forest Yami had gone to – as impractical as it may be, as it would have been better for the Overlord to start looking the opposite way in the hopes of covering more ground between the two.

The mirror's image jumped from where it had been displaying an endless field of grass, to an almost endless sea of trees. The forest was almost impeccable, except for patches where the trees had been violently destroyed – which worried Momonga –, and that just at the border of said forest there was a thin, black smoke column rising high into the air.

Intrigued, he zoomed in where the smoke originated from, only to see what seemed the charred, lifeless remains of a small settlement. There had been fires raging on the structures until not long before, as attested by the smoke, but Momonga could not see any bodies decorating the ground, though there was plenty of what appeared to be blood tainting it.

Momonga hummed at the sight. Someone had taken the time to get rid of the bodies, but he couldn't see anyone in the vicinity of the abandoned ruin. Whoever it was, they were already gone, so he dismissed the location as practically useless for his purposes.

He was about to continue surveying the surrounding forest in hopes of encountering a village that _hadn't_ been set on fire, but a grim sound made by the butler behind him made him pause.

He directed his gaze towards Sebas, who although had not changed expression, it somehow seemed as his eyes had darkened. "Is something the matter, Sebas?"

The butler's eyes were fixed on the mirror before lowering his head and closing his eyelids. "No, Momonga-sama. It's nothing."

Yet Momonga could see perfectly well what the butler had thought – it was not difficult knowing his creator. Touch Me was like an open book in that regard, _if you see someone in distress, it's only natural to help!_

The sight of innocents massacred – by omission, in this case – must have irked Sebas as much as it would have done to the insectoid paladin.

Momonga could do nothing but nod at the butler's words, and continued surveying the field, until-

"Is that…" The Overlord began, but didn't complete his question.

"It seems those are the responsible of the destruction of the previous village." Sebas stated calmly, much to Momonga's surprise. He had almost expected the butler to jump right into the fray to save the defenceless villagers from being slaughtered like animals; but it was only a trick of his mind, superimposing creation and creator.

"_It's only natural to help, huh…" _Momonga couldn't say he ever agreed with that statement, though he was grateful of Touch Me for that moment before he ditched the game.

Observing how villagers were cut down didn't move him at all, which surprised Momonga a little. He always thought that seeing a dead body would be different than seeing a person being killed, but he felt just as detached about what was happening on the other side of the mirror, as he had been when he saw the lifeless bodies of orphans in the streets of his area.

Still, though the village was small and probably couldn't offer him anything of real value, his fellow guildmate's words kept him from completely ignoring the fate of the peasants.

Behind him, Sebas appeared to grow restless – in his own standards, that is. "Momonga-sama, what do you intend to do?"

The Overlord considered the butler's words, while silently continuing his observation. Though it was true that Momonga himself was level one hundred, it was difficult to judge how strong that was in this new world. A normal villager could be comparable with a level one character, or maybe a level one hundred character – or perhaps even stronger – but Momonga didn't have any point of reference about it. He also lacked information, like the reason behind those knights were slaughtering the villagers. If Momonga intervened and made the wrong move, he could find himself the enemy of an entire country that he knew next to nothing about.

The confirmation that there was some sort of civilization – as archaic it might have looked to him – rose even more worries about his wandering comrade, who supposedly was in the area.

Seeing as humans were too, it was not much of a stretch that Yami might have encountered some already.

Although Momonga understood that Yami needed time alone, he decided that disturbing the Titan's peace of mind momentarily was worth finding out if he was okay.

The Overlord brought two fingers to his temple to cast [Message],

_[Yami-san? It's Momonga.]_ There was a tense moment of silence before there was a reply.

_[Hm? Hello, Momonga-san, I almost didn't recognize your voice. Is there an emergency?]_

_[Well, no, not really. We are fine here on Nazarick, though I finally grasped how to use the Mirror of Remote Viewing, and decided to survey around the forest you are at… Have you encountered any humans?]_

_[No, technically not. Though I just sent a tamed beast against a group of them. According to it, they aren't strong in comparison with itself, and I had to be cautious while fighting it in case I accidentally killed it.]_

At that, a great deal of Momonga's worries were lifted from his non-existent stomach. _[Hou? This beast you speak of, it can talk? Is it special?]_

_[… It's a long story, and I will be back to the Tomb tomorrow at the latest. I'll tell you the things I've seen so far then, but to be concise: everything dies at the first strike. The strongest thing I encountered I doubt reaches level thirty, and that is the beast I mentioned earlier.]_

_[I- ah, then, thank you for the information. I have to say, the NPCs are growing restless with you outside, so be prepared for when you do come back.]_ After he said that, Momonga wondered if it had been wise mentioning it.

Yami groaned out loud through the [Message], but assured Momonga once more that he would be back in a day, and ended the mental connection.

Momonga dropped his hand, and stared at the mirror in front of him for a moment.

His worries about outsiders' strength compared with his own vanished, he wasn't as disinclined to intervene as he was before. Remembering once more that time when Touch Me saved him from being PKed, he felt he might need to help them, if only in the memory of his comrade.

Plus, he promised himself that he'll make Ainz Ooal Gown the most famous name in the world. That name didn't make itself legendary in the game overnight; there was no reason to think it would be any different in this new world.

He turned towards the butler, "Sebas, prepare yourself for combat. We are saving those people."

_In the name of Ainz Ooal Gown._

* * *

"I'm still doubtful about this, Captain. Shouldn't we retreat and inform the King about these events? Having such a sizable part of our band separated to escort the few survivors we found to E-Rantel leaves both groups vulnerable. There's no guarantee that the Imperial bastards are here anymore, not after what we saw back then…"

The Captain was steadfast on his resolve. "Somebody needed to get those people to safety, Vice-Captain," He started, his eyes straight in front of him, as he commanded his steed. "Just as somebody had to make sure other villages were safe. There is no guarantee that the Knights have retreated, either."

The sight of the Great Forest of Tob greeted their eyes, and most of the warriors tensed at the memory of absolute destruction they had seen before.

The Captain would have been lying if he said he wasn't worried about it. Truth be told, he was just as anxious as his subordinates, but not about his own life – it was not his style.

There were very few people that were capable of such a level of destruction, and those were well beyond _his own league_, let alone that of his soldiers.

It was either that, or one of the legendary Dragon Lords, though there was no reason for one of them to appear in the Kingdom's territory.

His keen eyes suddenly distinguished a faint, thin black column of smoke rising into the sky. Which could mean he was late yet again, or that he could put a stop to it once and for all. Straightening in his mount, he ordered his men to move faster.

As they approached the hamlet, the Captain couldn't help but notice that something out of the norm happened there. He was glad to see villagers alive, but there were two figures that obviously didn't belong in that picture.

Had they saved the village from the knights' plundering?

And more importantly, _were they responsible for the destruction close that village?_

"I am Gazef Stronoff, Warrior Captain of the Kingdom, in the name of King Ramposa III! By his majesty's order, I've been patrolling remote villages to bring enemy soldiers to justice!" The Captain exclaimed, and he saw the villagers relax at his words – not that Gazef could blame them, as they had been subjected to the knight's attack already.

He eyed the two figures again. "May I ask who you are, gentlemen?"

* * *

**A/N: Nothing in particular.**

**Thanks for reading. Till next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Betaed by the great, magnanimous grumpy akubra-wearing wombat, as it has always (since ch3) been.**

**Important Update (7/10): I added a full scene at the end; I chopped it off this chapter originally, but didn't flow well with the rest of ch7. Also, I won't be updating for the next week (probably) because the wombat - you know, my beta - is off on happy vacation. Hopefully he won't be as grumpy when he comes back. **

* * *

The knight swung his sword, sealing the fates of the two sisters.

"Gah!" The eldest one cried in pain as the sword tore through her flesh, but her body had served to shield her little sister from the blow. Gathering the sparse strength she had left, she hid Nemu's face in her chest, so she wouldn't witness what was about to happen.

Enri coughed up blood as she fell to the ground, still curled around her little sister. But when the knight lifted his sword again, a voice stopped him from delivering one last, fatal blow.

"I would ask you to stop, gentlemen."

With great effort, Enri opened an eye to see the newcomer. He was a handsome, if aged man, sporting a perfectly trimmed beard and donning a spotless butler suit – the kind Enri only had seen once on her trips to E-Rantel. She didn't know what the man was doing in Carne, but unarmed as he was, the hope for a rescue she had when she heard his voice crumbled.

She tried to say that he should leave, to save himself now that he still could, but she could only cough up blood.

"O-onee-san?" Nemu's muffled voice called out for her, and Enri hugged her even tighter.

The butler seemed unfazed by what he saw. In fact, he walked towards the surprised knights, both hands on his back while maintaining a perfectly straight posture.

After several steps from the man, one of the knights snapped out of it, "Don't screw with me, old man!" He shouted, delivering a powerful slash at the butler's face.

But instead of cutting down the man, the sword was intercepted in the air… by the butler's index finger. Not only that, but the butler was actually _pushing_ _back_ the weapon, with no apparent effort.

"Let me say this, and I will do so once. You will drop your weapons, or I will have to force you. You cannot win against me," while the man was speaking, another figure entered the scene from a black, inky tear in the air that Enri had somehow failed to notice until then.

When she got a better view of the new figure, she could only take a shallow breath, because such an image could only belong to one being.

Death.

A second later, Enri lost consciousness due to blood loss.

* * *

Momonga passed through the _[Gate]_ a moment after Sebas. The spatial jump felt strange on his bones, like nothing he had ever experienced. When he stepped out, the portal closed itself with a small hiss, and he found himself in a very different environment compared with his office.

He glanced around, seeing one of the knights he had observed through the mirror paralyzed in place, while another had a sword aimed towards the butler. He lifted a bony hand at the first, casting the Ninth Tier necromancy spell _[Grasp Heart]_.

The Knight's hand shot up and clutched at his chest, then he dropped to the ground with a groan, dead.

Momonga inspected his hand. It seemed that what Yami had told him was correct, these people were… weak. They didn't even seem to have any form of defence against instant death spells.

"Please, my Lord, let me take care of this. There is no reason for you to deal with such petty matters yourself." Sebas said, still staring down at the other knight, who had also frozen in place.

The Overlord looked at the dead body of the knight, then at the two girls that were citizens of the nearby village, lying in a growing pool of blood. "Alright Sebas, but you should be quick about it. I doubt these soldiers will stop if you just ask them to."

If it hadn't been for the sobs coming from the youngest, he wouldn't have spared a second glance.

He approached them while Sebas was dealing with the rest of the Knights. Moving the elder girl on to her back, the younger slipped out of the embrace she had been hiding in, and didn't even do as much as look at Momonga when she saw the look on the other girl's eyes.

The light had already escaped her eyes.

There was little Momonga could do, bar using very expensive and limited items… no, even though he had the ability to resurrect people and wanted to save this village to make the Guild's name known, he still wouldn't use such precious items on people he didn't know. If resurrection spells even worked in this world.

The little girl was crying disconsolately, shaking the older girl while mumbling something that Momonga could not decipher due to be half-sobbing, half-choking. The Overlord… was somewhat surprised by the lack of emotion he felt at such a sight. Not a single drop of pity or sympathy crossed his mind.

It didn't feel any different than watching dry, autumnal leaves fall gently to the ground.

He shook his head, leaving such matters for him to ponder later.

Feeling somewhat bad – though that was not quite _it_, he couldn't really explain it – if he were to leave the little girl like that, so he cast a few defensive spells on her, so she couldn't be attacked by any stray Knight that he might've missed. The girl _still_ didn't seem to acknowledge his presence, and didn't seem inclined to leave that spot.

He straightened, looking at the dead body of the knight he killed and the groaning form of the one Sebas had beaten within an inch of his life – his plated cuirass bent in such a way that Momonga thought should be _uncomfortable_ to say the least, but the man was still alive.

"[Create Middle-Tier Undead: Death Knight].'' He incanted, trying out the words. He was still not used to the lack of interface, and that he needed to call out the words to cast, with the exception of the spells he had available with _[Silent Casting]_. And even then he had to focus on the spell he wanted to cast.

An inky blackness appeared, and rapidly crept towards the body of the dead knight, completely covering the entire thing. In the course of several seconds, the dead body morphed a tall figure of half-rotten flesh, with a wicked-looking weapon and armour.

Momonga was slightly taken aback, as he had not expected the necromancy spell to act in such a way – but then again, many spells seemed to have slightly changed as they were transported to this new world, so he chalked it up to that.

"Death Knight, immobilize this man in such a way I can speak with him, face to face." He commanded the summon, though he did not expect it to follow an order such as that. Normally, summoned creatures couldn't be commanded more than "follow", "patrol around" and "attack that target", but he wanted to see whether more complex tasks were even registered.

The Death Knight howled, its voice so loud that what seemed all the birds in the vicinity were sent flying. The summon then embedded its flamberge and shield on the ground, and Momonga was pleasantly surprised as it picked up the knight that was groaning in pain on the floor by the arms.

The man seemed to have difficulty breathing with the cuirass bent inwards. In that state, he wouldn't be able to answer any questions Momonga asked him; so pointing a finger towards the half-destroyed piece of armour, the Overlord casted _[Break Item]_. It disintegrated within a moment.

_The plate didn't offer any resistance towards such a basic spell,_ Momonga thought, realizing now, just how weak Yami had spoken about the inhabitants of this world, and how he hadn't been hyperbolic when he said that he had to try his best not to kill them.

The Overlord pointed his index finger towards the Knight's helmet, and obliterated it the same way. The slowly dissipating helmet gave way to the view of the man's face, who took a moment to normalize his breath before opening his eyelids. The man's thankful expression morphed into confusion, and from there into unrestrained, pure horror.

Momonga looked at the horrorized face of the knight in disdain. "Greetings." He started, the knight only seemed to swallow a scream in reply. "So, how does it feel to be on the other side now, being the one at the mercy of the strong?"

"Aiiii!" the man's eyes grew in size as the seconds passed, not seemed inclined to say anything back, only to fall into mumbling which Momonga suspected were psalms of praying.

Momonga didn't want to spend more time dealing with the man than was necessary, so he cut it short, "You will answer my questions."

-line break-

What was once a nightmare come true, quickly dissolved. From one moment to the next, the villagers' tormentors began falling to the ground, unconscious or unable to stand up again. A few of the villagers saw this moment of opportunity to disarm the Knights, and in some cases, to start beating them to death with their own weapons.

It was not until only a few Knights were left standing that the villagers could see their saviour's face.

It wasn't anything like they had been expecting.

A man – rather old at that – donning a somehow an impeccable suit this far into the wilderness, stood between the Knights and the villagers, his fists drawn in silent threat towards the armed men.

None of the villagers would have believed this man, dressed as some noble's butler would, had been their saviour if it were not because in the next moment he _slapped away_ a swing aimed at his face and punched his attacker in the chest, sending him flying straight at the other Knights.

The moment the butler's knuckles met the cuirass of the knight, an unholy, if brief, sound was heard as the metal deformed by the _sheer_ force it had been hit with.

The butler didn't do as much as a flinch. He only dusted his gloved hands before putting both behind his back. Slowly, menacingly so, he walked towards the knights that were still able to fight.

"You will drop your weapons and surrender. My Master has declared that you gentlemen will be stopped. And you will be." The man said. His tone was perfectly calm, though if one listened more closely, there was an edge hidden beneath the mask of calmness.

Seeing as their leader had been already taken out, the remaining Knights didn't make as much as a second thought about it, letting their swords fall from their hands in clear surrender. Some even kicked their weapons towards the butler, who remained still, staring directly at them.

A moment later, one of the other knights was flung towards where the last group of assailants were surrendering – this one, strangely, lacked a good portion of his armour.

The man rolled for a moment before he slid to a halt. He slowly lifted his head, looked to where he was thrown from, and screeched in terror.

Many turned their eyes towards there… and their faces quickly paled at the sight of the creature that met their eyes.

It was the sight of slaughter given form, its eyes promising painful death and eternal damnation.

The only ones to even slightly relax after the butler's next words were the villagers.

"My Lord, I have neutralized the knights as you ordered. They will not continue to attack this village." The old man said, pressing one hand on his chest, bowing deeply.

The people present were confused for a second, until they saw the smaller figure that walked alongside the incarnation of death. They instantly understood the butler's words, as the man was garbed in robes of so intricate making, they must have cost whoever he was a fortune. A golden, twisted staff accompanied his steps, and a strange-looking mask covered his face from view.

"Good job, Sebas. I see that you preferred the use of non-lethal force on them, but we don't have any means of securing them." A powerful, baritone voice came from the man, further proving that whoever this man was, he was one in a position of power.

A brave soul dared to interrupt the conversation between master and servant, "Who are you, good Lord?"

The man in robes turned around, not a moment later replying, "We... are Ainz Ooal Gown!"

* * *

It couldn't have been worse timing.

In preparation for their ambush on Gazef Stronoff, he had ordered the members of his Scripture to hide in the outskirts of the forest, to make the encirclement as quick as possible. He didn't want to fail his mission because Stronoff found a gap and fled, as improbable as that was. There also was the matter of having no witnesses that it was the Theocracy's work – it would be an unnecessary pain to deal with later if word got out.

So, his subordinates were hidden until he gave the order, in the effort of keeping themselves undetected. They were to only start summoning angels after the trap was sprung.

"_Silvery fur, and a snake-line tail…"_ The Captain thought as he eyed his adversary. "_This is the Wise King of the Forest."_

Indeed, it fits the description they had about it, except the extent of its abilities. By what he had read about it, he was sure five of his subordinates would have been enough to subdue it, but reality had begged to differ.

Caught unaware, many of his soldiers had been quickly beaten by the beast, one by one, before any of them could counterattack.

They also couldn't use many of their spells it would blow their cover – they couldn't even use their primary card, the summoned Angels, as they would attract too much attention.

He stepped backwards, evading a blow, then deflecting the next with his weapon.

"_That tail is a big problem." _Its scales were sturdy enough to resist several sword strikes, and the beast didn't seem injured enough to stop using it. It had been difficult to guess where the next attack would come from; but as it was just a dumb monster, its moves became predictable for him, after a few minutes of fighting.

"_It also seems to be resistant to magic of the Second Tier." _He grimly observed, running different scenarios on his head.

If things continued like this, then they would be too tired to face Stronoff and be certain of their victory. If they upped the stakes and started giving their all against the Wise King, then they would be signalling Stronoff they were there and he would have an easier time of fighting them while they were dealing with the beast. Best case scenario was that Stronoff decided to retreat.

"_Damn it," _He evaded a spell the Wise King cast, only to be struck by its tail, staggering him. "_This cursed beast ha_s _put all my plans to disarray." _It hadn't been anything serious, and with a minor healing spell he was up again.

"_And it doesn't seem to let anyone out of its reach." _Indeed, when one soldier tried to fall back, the beast went on a full offensive, refusing to give anyone time to regain their breath.

That was more concerning than the actual strength of the beast, as it had been reported that if someone started retreating, the Wise King would not bother pursuing. "_Were the reports purposefully incorrect? No, that cannot be."_

Either way, he found himself in a sticky situation, with no clear good outcome anywhere in sight.

Fight it in earnest, and lose the chance of killing Stronoff, or fight reservedly and _possibly _beat it and being in a serious disadvantage when facing the Warrior-Captain.

Another of his subordinates dropped to the ground from his injuries, and the Captain finally let his irritation out.

"What do you want, beast?! If you want us out of your forest, we'll get out! Stop attacking us already!" He shouted in anger, all while dexterously dodging the Wise King's renewed attacks.

Surprisingly enough, the beast stopped attacking, and stood on both rear paws, looking highly menacing.

"That I cannot do! My Lord ordered me to neutralize the trespassers, he did!" It loudly declared, before getting back on four legs, a magical sigil on its side glowing.

Surprised by its ability to speak, three more members of his Scripture got caught by the magic's effects and were out of the fight.

The Captain grinded his teeth. "_Does that mean… it serves a master? Typically monsters like these only care for brute strength, so this "Lord" it speaks of must be stronger than it."_

He returned fire with an _[Acid Arrow]_, and though the attack impacted right on target, it seemed to have done nothing. "_Still, with the knowledge that there is another, more powerful monster in the forest… and that this "Lord" clearly doesn't want us to leave, it might- no, we need to start to fight the Wise King in earnest to retreat. We cannot allow ourselves to be captured, least of all killed! We… __**I**_ _am a vital piece for the Theocracy!"_

"Soldiers! We'll fight this creature seriously! Use your entire repertoire; we have to exit this forest in haste!"

Disengaging himself from combat, he idly considered for a moment using the Sacred Treasure given to him for this mission, but he quickly dismissed the idea. Although the fight would be over the moment he used _it_, the Treasure was way too important to be used against such enemies. "_If the Wise King's Lord were to appear in the picture, though…" _

No, there couldn't be a monster so strong in the Forest of Tob to warrant the use of the Treasure. Nothing did, for two centuries now.

His subordinates quickly followed his orders, and in short notice the balance of the battle was shifted, as messengers from the Gods came to assist them in their fight against the Wise King of the Forest. They might need to set up the ambush on Gazef Stronoff again later, but their ability to do so in the future was paramount. They couldn't be taken prisoner – or killed – by some brutish creature.

The Wise King seemed to have been caught off guard from the revelation of the Angels', which gave time for three of his soldiers to start the ritual to call for a _[Principality of Observation]_. By the time it noticed the summoning ritual, it was too late. It couldn't even get close enough to even try to disrupt it, having to fight off countless _[Archangel Flames]_ and evade the spells of the Third Tier his men were bombarding it with.

He suppressed a smirk at the sight. "_So you can be hurt with magic," _He mused, "_Though only the mage has to be competent to do so. Unluckily for you, I have many men under my command able to use such spells!"_ And though most of them couldn't really cast many spells of the Third Tier before passing out from exhaustion, there were enough men capable of such a feat for that to not be considered a problem.

The moment _[Principality of Observation] _was summoned, it was just a matter of time until he and his men came out triumphant.

Except-

"**Hou? I recognize these ones. I've massacred my fair share of them, back then." **A tenebrous, triple-layered voice resounded through the forest. All other sound subsequently died – no one moved, not even the Wise King, no animals made a sound, no man _breathed_ thanks to the oppressive pressure that the newcomer projected.

"_Is that…?"_

"**I originally intended to figure out what 'strong humans' were capable of, maybe ask a few questions, and then let you go." **The creature stated, apparently bored with what he had been seeing, "**Now though? I might have to force answers out of you. Where did you learn those spells? Where did you learn how to summon those angels?"**

This newcomer was intimidating like few things the Captain had ever encountered before. Three-headed, six-armed creature, not to mention it's colossal height, it was obviously not human.

"My Lord! This Hamsuke will take care of the intruders, I will!" The Wise King, apparently named Hamsuke, declared to the… _being._

"_That's its Lord?" _The Captain gulped, worry starting to seep into his mind. He was reassured, though, when he remembered the Sacred Treasure he had yet to unleash.

He could not possibly lose.

Though the colossus' words unnerved him greatly. "_What does he mean by those spells? And what's with this killing a great amount of angels, preposterous!"_

"What are you, monster? Are you the one who rules over the Great Forest of Tob?" He settled for asking.

The being moved his heads, and the Captain saw his life flash before his eyes when he locked gazes with one of them.

Under the shadow granted by his helmets, pairs of vibrant, yellow eyes glowed in the darkness.

"**You will not be asking the questions." **The being dismissed him – _dismissed_ him like he was irrelevant. As if he were nothing but the dirt on the monster's shoes. The Captain tried to swallow again, but his mouth was completely dry. "**Do not worry, Hamsuke. Even if you are indeed stronger than them individually, they cornered you with the use of good tactics. I reckon I learned pretty much everything these people are capable of. You are to disengage; I will deal with these humans myself."**

_This_ was what he had wanted to avoid; dealing with whatever had subordinated the living legend of the forest. The casual way the monster just ignored the summons' existence spoke volumes of its strength – not even he would have an easy time fighting against a _[Principality of Observation]_, let alone a small army of _[Archangel Flames]_ and a good amount of magic casters on top of it.

Were it be a simple man who had uttered those words, he would have dismissed them as simple bluff, but this…

"_This is on a completely different level."_

Refusing to believe his own thoughts, in his desperate need for them to be actually false, he turned to his men, "Attack! Attack that thing with everything you have!"

The colossus radiated _amusement_ at his words, and didn't even attempt to move from where it was standing, or move to defend itself.

Spell after spell rained upon the monster, though unluckily, many had overexerted themselves and were already tired from fighting the Wise King of the Forest. The _[Archangel Flames] _closed in to attack, though he couldn't see how they fared as dirt was kicked up in the air by each spell that the members of his Scripture unleashed.

After a long, continuous barrage of spells, he stopped his men before they exhausted themselves into unconsciousness.

He could feel that he was stronger than before, thanks to the _[Principality of Observation]_ behind him, but the feeling of dread that he felt when he saw that monster didn't fade.

After a few seconds passed and the dust in the air started to settle, he saw the silhouette of the monster impaled by a myriad of the summons' energy swords.

He let out a breath he hadn't noticed he was withholding. "_That's it? It was… surprisingly easier than what I feared."_ He bit back a nervous chuckle, until he couldn't contain it. "Hah! Turned out that you weren't all that strong, were you?"

The view cleared suddenly, revealing that the monster had been indeed ran through with the angels' swords, but no sign of any damage was present on its body.

His men started to relax in their postures, and some even dropped to the ground from the so-called "adrenaline crash".

"**Hm? That's all?" **The voice of the monster called out, his unnerving tone completely unfazed. "**I was waiting for you to get serious. Now, if you excuse me…"** With a casual wave of one of his hands, it casually _slapped_ the angels out of existence. "**That's much better. These things were in the way."**

It hadn't bothered to use the weapon it had in another hand.

"Principality of Observation! Attack that thing, destroy it!" He desperately used one of his last cards. That particular angel was better used on the battlefield for its strengthening effects it had on nearby troops. The only downside was that for those effects to take place, _[Principality of Observation] _had to be stationary.

That didn't mean, however, that it was incapable of going in the offensive itself. It was many times stronger than an _[Archangel Flame]_, in fact.

The angel heeded his orders and attacked with its mighty mace against the multi-armed monster– who just stood there.

The monster sighed, as in disappointment mixed with irritation, and dismissed the higher sphere angel much the same he did with the previous ones.

The Captain's eyes widened to an almost impossible width. "I… I see…" he started fearfully. "You must be one of the Evil Deities of old!"

The monster didn't react at his words, and left him to continue speaking.

The Captain started cackling madly, covering half his face with one of his palms, while the other pressed at his chest. "Unluckily for you, Evil One, I have just the perfect counter for your kind!" He proclaimed, taking the Sacred Treasure from where he had safely stored it. "Behold! This is the power that obliterated an Evil Deity like you in times past! A Gift left by the Go-!" And everything was darkness after that.

* * *

Momonga, who had decided to save the town to spread the name of Ainz Ooal Gown not a few hours before, saw fit to stay and make sure this new group of armed men weren't going to erase his work.

If anything, it was also his way of saying thanks for the information they had given him on this new world, even if they had sort of misunderstood him.

When one of the young men of the village had asked for his identity, he used that opportunity to let the Guild's name to take the spotlight, as it would in that way engrave itself deeply into these people's minds. He had the idea of introducing himself properly after, but he was cut short when the villagers started shouting "Thank you, Lord Gown, for saving us!"

He couldn't find a good way of telling them they were mistaken, and that he certainly didn't speak so overly pompously as to refer to himself as "we", so in the end he just rolled with it.

After all, the goal was to make the name Ainz Ooal Gown known, not really his own. Luckily, Sebas seemed to pick up on that without Momonga telling him, so the act wasn't instantly blown when the dragonoid addressed him.

"Gown-sama, I hear disturbances in the distance." Sebas had informed him when Momonga had been in the village Chief's house gathering information.

Going out of the small cottage, he saw what the butler had likely sensed; the new group of men drawing near the village, their backs on the slowly setting sun.

Momonga ordered the Death Knight to keep watch over the now restrained Imperial Knights, while he and Sebas, alongside some of the braver villagers stood in an open square as a greeting party.

When the horsemen entered the square, Momonga noted that their gear was noticeably different from the Knights. Each soldier was outfitted differently, in stark contrast to the Knight's uniform.

"-I'm Gazef Stronoff, Warrior Captain of the Kingdom, in the name of King Ramposa III!" A man of stout build said, giving the village a once over before staring at the Death Knight and the captured Imperial Knights. He then turned his scrutinizing gaze on Momonga. "By his majesty's orders, I've been patrolling remote villages to bring enemy soldiers to justice!"

What followed after was that Gazef was informed of the situation before Momonga could say much of anything, so the Guild Master was incorrectly introduced as Ainz Ooal Gown by the village Chief.

Bonus points were that, apparently, the Warrior Captain had the King's ear as he was his close aide – meaning, the name of the Guild would gain recognition in high spheres.

Gazef Stronoff was, for the look of things, a man of the people. He was deeply grateful for what Momonga had done to save the villagers, and more so that the Imperial Knights that had been a thorn of the Kingdom's side had been apprehended.

The confused expression on the Warrior-Captain's face when he inspected the damage left by Sebas' onslaught, and the unease he had when he looked at the Death Knight, told Momonga that neither Monks as strong as Sebas or the practice of Necromancy were common sights on this new world.

Surely, a man of fame such as Gazef Stronoff would have seen about everything this world had to offer, and Momonga couldn't help but to feel underwhelmed.

That did not mean, however, that he would let himself relax. He still did not know much about Nazarick's surroundings, and the possibility that something that may pose a threat to him existed, but the human inhabitants of this Kingdom were unaware of.

About twenty minutes after the Warrior-Captain appeared in the village, Gazef excused himself.

"I'm sorry, Gown-dono, Chief-dono, but I must take these Knights with me as prisoners, before any can set themselves free." He then eyed the Death Knight, but refrained from commenting, returning his gaze to the village Chief's face. "Though I must say, we have no method of doing so readily available to us. Though it shames me to ask, Chief-dono, may you have a cart of some sort you can lend us, to transport these men to E-Rantel? I promise to you that I'll send someone to return it at the first opportunity."

"It's of no problem, Stronoff-dono. I believe there is an old cart we use to deliver goods to E-Rantel, you can use it." The old man replied, almost jovially. Surprising, given the grimness of the situation. The chief then inspected the Knights' numbers, adding, "Though I'm not sure if it'll be big enough for all of them."

Stronoff nodded, "Anything is better than nothing. We'll manage with what you can provide us." He assured the Chief.

When the old man went to bring said transport, Gazef turned to Momonga, carefully inspecting the mask covering his skeletal face. "For services you did for our country, Gown-dono, I would like to invite you to meet the King. His Majesty will then recompense you for protecting his subjects, I'm sure of it."

Momonga considered for a moment. "That is not quite needed, Stronoff-dono. As I told you before, I already received payment for my services from the good people of the village, accepting more would be being greedy from my part." He said, dismissively. The name of Ainz Ooal Gown would leave an even longer lasting impression if he went personally, and he might even have the opportunity to correct that slight mistake without losing much face.

His contemplation was cut short, when he received a [Message] form Yami, stating that he needed help with a group of humans he had encountered and captured in the forest.

"I'm sorry, Stronoff-dono, but I have important business to attend to. It's not as if I want to be rude to the King of Re-Estize, I hope you understand." Momonga told the Warrior-Captain, but internally he was wondering what the hell the Titan had gotten himself into.

Gazef didn't look particularly happy with that, though he seemed understanding enough, "I see. Certainly, a person such as yourself wouldn't wander around a village so far into the wilderness for no reason." He said, nodding once more as he continued, "I have to thank you once more for helping these people, even though you had other commitments to attend to. I shan't take more of your time." He finished as the village Chief came back with the promised transport.

Momonga didn't stay to see the Warriors of the Kingdom set off, however. What Yami had barely informed him of seemed actually really important, given the Titan's tone.

"Sebas, you will follow me." He told the butler, and then turning to the Death Knight he created. "Death Knight, you are to protect the village from anyone who wishes harm upon it."

A glance to the surroundings told Momonga that the common folk, though grateful for his interference, weren't exactly thrilled to have the undead creature anywhere near in the near vicinity. "You are to follow the village Chief's orders, until I return."

At that, the villagers looked alleviated. Thinking about it, it made some sort of sense for living humans to be wary of the undead, therefore necromancy in general. He was still rather surprised that Stronoff – the supposed strongest man – hadn't encountered anything like a measly Death Knight before.

Surely, even if unpopular, necromancy had to be something they had knowledge of, even if only to counter it.

He opened a [Gate], using the function so the other side was close to his target – in this case, the Titan. The dark, oval shaped portal startled everyone around it, but Momonga didn't pay much more attention to their reactions. He had already introduced himself as a Magic Caster, so them knowing that he could use [Gate] didn't bother him all that much.

As Momonga passed through, he couldn't help but notice how the sky shattered the moment he entered the scene.

He recognized the effect somewhat from YGGDRASIL…

Someone had been using scrying spells to spy on the Titan, all throughout his supposed fight with the humans.

This couldn't bode well.

* * *

**A/N: No, I didn't plan on getting Enri killed, it sort of happened while I was writing. And also no, that isn't why this story is categorized as tragedy. **

**Thanks for all the views, people! Passed 2k with the last chapter, even if you lot seem to be a bunch of tsunderes or something. Don't take it too badly, it's all on good fun.**

**This chapter was originally longer, but I decided to cut it short. (Edit: And added it back in, because why not, apparently)**

**That's all, peeps. Till next time. **

**Thanks for reading.**


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